President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul J. Manafort and his close associate Rick Gates were charged by the U.S Justice Department with "conspiracy against the United States" and "conspiracy to launder money" among other things on Monday.
Mr. Manafort led the campaign during the Republican National Convention (RNC) that nominated Mr. Trump as the presidential candidate, in July 2016.
Mr. Manafort and Mr. Gates are the first ones to face formal charges in the investigation into alleged meddling by Russia in the 2016 U.S presidential election. Robert Mueller, the Justice Department special counsel for the investigation, has wide-ranging powers to bring charges related to other crimes that its Russia investigation may unearth.
Indicted on 12 counts
Mr. Manafort and Mr. Gates were indicted on 12 counts, a statement by the Department said: "Conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading FARA statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts."
"Paul is a great asset and an important addition as we consolidate the tremendous support we have received," Mr. Trump had said, welcoming Mr. Manafort as a campaign official in March 2016. Within months, Mr. Trump began berating him as "low energy" in internal meetings, finally leading to his sacking, in August 2016.
Trump tweets 'sorry'
The President responded to the indictment, on Twitter. "Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren't Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????" he posted. "....Also, there is NO COLLUSION!m" he said in a second post.
Mr. Manafort, a four decade veteran in Republican politics, worked for several campaigns in the 1970s and 1980s, and entered the world of international lobbying. He was instrumental in ‘mainstreaming’ Mr. Trump as a conventional candidate in the few weeks around RNC last year, and selecting Mike Pence as running mate. Mr. Trump soon returned to his original unconventional campaign, replacing Mr. Manafort with ultranationalist Steve Bannon as his campaign manager.
Savimbi, Marcos his clients
Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos and Zaire's leader Mobutu Sese Seko used to be clients of Mr. Manafort. His lobbying for Ukraine’s pro-Russian politician Viktor Yanukovych, which he failed to disclose to American authorities as required by law is at the core of the charges against him now.
The indictment filed by the Justice Department said Mr. Manafort and Mr. Gates acted as unregistered agent of the government of Ukraine and Mr. Yanukovych between 2006 and 2015. "In order to hide Ukraine payments from U.S authorities, (they) laundered the money through scores of U.S and foreign corporations, partnerships and bank accounts," the document said. They "hid the existence of foreign companies and bank accounts, falsely and repeatedly reporting to their tax preparers and to the U.S they they had no foreign bank accounts." When the the Justice Department sent them inquiries, they "responded with a series of false and misleading statements," according to the indictment.
Deal reached with Papadopolous
In a related but separate announcement, the Justice Department said it had reached a plea agreement with George Papadopolous, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign. He has pleaded guilty for making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). He had contacts with a Russian professor who told him about Moscow being in possession of "dirt" on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, but falsely stated that they were before he joined the campaign.
