• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Trump's Former Campaign Manager Agrees To Testify In Russia Probe

RFE/RL March 24, 2017

A senior Republican lawmaker says President Donald Trump's former campaign manager has volunteered to speak to a U.S. congressional committee about its investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Devin Nunes, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters on March 24 that Paul Manafort's lawyer contacted the committee and offered to make his client available to lawmakers.

The committee is investigating alleged ties between Trump associates and Russia, as well as what U.S. intelligence calls Kremlin-directed interference in the U.S. election.

"The counsel for Paul Manafort contacted the committee yesterday to offer the committee the opportunity to interview his client," Nunes said. "We thank Mr. Manafort for volunteering and encourage others with knowledge of these issues to voluntarily interview with the committee."

It was not immediately clear whether his testimony would be in an open or closed setting. Nunes told reporters that his panel would coordinate with Manafort's lawyers on whether the testimony would public.

The announcement came just days after the Associated Press reported that Manafort previously worked for a Kremlin-connected Russian billionaire and, as early as 2005, had proposed a political strategy to benefit Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Manafort resigned as chairman of Trump's presidential campaign in August 2016 following reports of illicit payments related to his previous work for the political party of Ukraine's former President Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian leader who was ousted from power in February 2014.

FBI Director James Comey on March 20 confirmed publicly that his agency was conducting investigations into communications between Russian officials and Trump associates.

U.S. intelligence agencies released a report in January assessing that Russia conducted a hacking-and-influence campaign aimed at denigrating Trump's Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. The Kremlin rejects the allegation.

After initially expressing repeated skepticism about that assessment, Trump said he believed Russia was behind the hacking campaign but insists it had no impact on the outcome of the election.

The White House said earlier this week Trump did not know his former campaign chairman had worked for Kremlin-connected Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska and had proposed a political strategy that the AP reported was aimed at a public-influence campaign that would favor Putin.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer on March 22 insisted the work Manafort did for Deripaska had taken place a decade ago and was irrelevant to Manafort's job with Trump's 2016 election campaign.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, The Boston Globe, Politico, and CNN

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/us-russia -manafort-trump-ex-manager- agrees-testify/28389100.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.