Paul Manafort, formerly Donald Trump’s campaign chairman, was taken into custody on Friday after a federal judge determined he had violated the terms of his bail as he awaits trial on multiple federal felony charges.
Manafort, 69, thus became the first former Trump aide to go to jail related to charges brought by the special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian election interference and links between Trump aides and Moscow.
Three other former aides, including the former national security adviser Michael Flynn, have been indicted and are cooperating with Mueller’s team of investigators. The charges against Manafort, which he denies, do not relate to his work on the Trump campaign or Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election.
While Trump has distanced himself from Manafort, the arrest seemed likely to turn up the pressure in the White House. Mueller has asked the president to sit for an interview, which Trump has so far resisted.
At the White House before Manafort was jailed, Trump falsely claimed to reporters: “Manafort has nothing to do with our campaign. But … I tell you, I feel a little badly about it.”
He added: “You know, Paul Manafort worked for me for a very short period of time. He worked for Ronald Reagan. He worked for Bob Dole. He worked for John McCain, or his firm did. He worked for many other Republicans. He worked for me, what, for 49 days or something? A very short period of time.”
In fact, Manafort ran the campaign for five months and continued to advise Trump through the presidential transition.
Trump also falsely claimed that a Department of Justice report issued on Thursday “totally exonerates” him and denied that Michael Cohen, his longtime attorney and fixer who is widely expected to be arrested soon in an investigation related to the Mueller probe, was his lawyer. “I haven’t spoken to Michael for a long time,” he said.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
