It’s been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week for Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. On Monday, The New York Times discovered that Manafort took $12.7 million in under-the-table payments from a pro-Russian party in the Ukraine. On Wednesday, Manafort was effectively demoted when Trump reorganized his campaign amid threats that the RNC may leave him to twist in the wind for the stretch run.
However, that wasn’t the worst news Manafort got this week. Not by a longshot. It turns out that while furthering the Kremlin’s interests in Kiev, ol’ Paul potentially crossed the line from unsavory behavior to criminal conduct. Moreover, an email exchange reveals that Manafort orchestrated a covert lobbying effort to improve the image of Ukraine’s then pro-Russian president in Washington.
Back in 2012, Manafort and a business partner, Rick Gates, were working as consultants for the Party of Regions, the party of Ukraine’s then-president, Viktor Yanukovych. During this time, Manafort and Gates steered some work for the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine, a pro-Yanukovych nonprofit, to two Washington-based lobbying firms. This nonprofit included a number of MPs from the Party of Regions.
The Associated Press learned from people close to Manafort and Gates’ work that the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine paid a total of $2.2 million between 2012 and 2014 to these lobbying firms in order to essentially parrot the Yanukovych line. One of them, the Podesta Group, got $1.13 million. The other, the Mercury Group, got $1.07 million. Among other things, the groups were paid to oppose a congressional resolution calling for Yanukovych to release former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko from prison.
The Podesta Group tilts Democratic; its founder, Tony Podesta, is the brother of longtime Democratic strategist and current Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. The Mercury Group is Republican; it is helmed by former Republican congressman Vin Weber. Apparently Manafort, Gates, and Yanukovych were trying to cover both sides of the aisle. According to a former Podesta Group employee, Gates told several Podesta Group employees in 2012 that the European Centre was being used to funnel the money in a way that couldn’t be directly traced to Manafort’s real employer–the Party of Regions.
This raised a number of red flags within the Podesta Group, and for good reason. Apparently Gates was well aware that the European Centre was merely a front to obscure the Party of Regions’ effort to influence U. S. foreign policy. By going that route, Manafort and Gates fell afoul of a long-established federal law on lobbying, the Foreign Agents Registration Act. It requires American lobbyists to publicly disclose whether they work for foreign leaders or their parties, as well as submit reports about their activities to the Justice Department. Violations are felonies that carry up to five years in jail and a $250,000 fine.
At least one Podesta Group employee believed this arrangement was blatantly illegal, and a number of other employees expressed concerns. However, both firms obtained legal opinions saying that the arrangement was legal.
On Thursday night, the AP detonated another bombshell.
BREAKING: Emails show Trump advisers waged covert influence campaign for pro-Russian Ukraine government.
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 18, 2016
It has evidence that Gates, who is now a senior official with the Trump campaign, sent emails telling Podesta Group and Mercury Group to set up meetings between a Ukrainian official and several American lawmakers. He oversaw the operation via his email account at Manafort’s firm, DMP International. According to several former Podesta Group employees, Manafort was well aware of the operation, and oversaw them on the phone.
When Joseph Sandler, a lawyer who advises lobbyists on both sides, learned of the arrangement, his response was immediate–“there is no question” that Manafort, Gates, and the firms should have registered as foreign agents. After all, the email exchange proves the lie to claims that the nonprofit worked independently from Manafort’s firm.
When the story of the under-the-table payments first broke on Wednesday, former Senate Rules Committee chief counsel Jason Abel suggested that Manafort may have violated FARA.
It's very possible Manafort violated FARA and should've registered as a foreign agent w/ DOJ for his work. https://t.co/AAI5GCw84l
— Jason Abel (@jasonaabel) August 15, 2016
As the saying goes, where there is smoke, there is fire.
So riddle me this, Paul. Your boss wants to put Hillary under the microscope for her past ties to the Kremlin. And yet, you were not only taking under-the-table payments from a foreign political party, but you were also running an under-the-table lobbying effort. Pot, meet kettle.
Simply put, there is no defensible reason for Manafort to be at his post. If Trump has anything left in him, Paul needs to get his walking papers. Now.
