An investigation that President Trump has labeled a “witch hunt” and described as a “costly” use of taxpayer money yielded more than a dozen criminal charges against three of his former associates on Monday, raising questions about Trump’s judgment, knowledge of the illegal activity and the future of the aggressive probe.
Trump took to Twitter on Monday to dismiss the news that Paul Manafort, his former campaign manager, had been taken into custody over charges related to work he performed for pro-Russia groups in Ukraine years before working with the campaign.
But the White House, Trump’s campaign, and an outside group created to support the president’s agenda remained silent on Monday, declining to comment on the latest twist in a monthslong legal drama that has at times threatened to overshadow many of Trump’s accomplishments.
Manafort and Rick Gates, his longtime deputy, both surrendered to authorities early Monday morning after a grand jury handed down an indictment that included charges of money laundering and conspiracy against the United States. Investigators had raided Manafort’s home in July and reportedly warned him at the time to expect an indictment, so the news of his arrest did not come as a major surprise.
More surprising were the charges filed against a third associate, George Papadopoulos, a little-known former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign. Papadopoulos allegedly “made material false statements” about his relationships with Russian officials to FBI agents during an interview in January, according to court documents that were unsealed on Monday.
A source close to the White House told the Washington Examiner that the arrests of Manafort and Gates were completely unrelated to Trump, the administration or the campaign.
“Let me understand this, FISA warrants, several committee investigations, FBI investigation and special counsel investigation,” the source said in a text message. “Millions of dollars and nothing related to Russia collusion … and … Today’s arrest has nothing to do with the Trump campaign or Russia nonsense.”
The legal trouble facing Papadopoulos could complicate the ability of Trump’s allies to insulate the president from Russian collusion allegations by pointing to the non-campaign-related charges against Manafort and Gates, however. In fact, the 14-page indictment against Trump’s former foreign policy adviser spelled out what could be the most explicit indication yet that campaign aides did seek assistance from Russians during the presidential race.
Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty on Monday to the charges of making false statements, allegedly lied about the timing and nature of his conversations with a Russian professor who had “substantial connections to Russian government officials” and who had promised him “thousands of emails” that could damage Hillary Clinton, Trump’s election opponent. Although Papadopoulos told investigators he had spoken with the Russian professor before he became a Trump campaign adviser, the FBI ultimately learned that Papadopoulos met with the professor only after joining the campaign and that the professor only took an interest in Papadopoulos because he had a relationship with the campaign.
According to court documents, Papadopoulos worked to set up meetings with Russians and representatives of the campaign and actively obstructed the investigation into the campaign’s Russian connections.
The charges against Papadopoulos could apply pressure on him to start cooperating with investigators, potentially deepening the special counsel’s five-month-old probe.
The White House declined to comment on any of the charges that were unsealed on Monday. Trump’s re-election campaign also declined to comment.
America First Policies, a pro-Trump organization that employed Gates until March, also refused to provide a statement about its former associate when reached by the Washington Examiner on Monday.
Trump’s two tweets on the Manafort arrest stood alone Monday morning as the only on-the-record insight into the White House’s thinking.
His insistence that “Crooked Hillary” and Democrats remain the “focus” of conversation could reflect a frustration that developments in the special counsel’s investigation quickly eclipsed the revelation, first reported last week, that the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee funded a dossier of largely-unproven Russia allegations that ended up at the center of the collusion controversy earlier this year.
That revelation had temporarily scrambled the storylines surrounding the Russia narrative, as Trump and his supporters were able to point to the Democrats’ involvement with the dossier as proof that the Clinton campaign had also demonstrated a willingness to team up with foreign agents to dig up dirt on an opponent. The dossier was compiled by a former British spy who attributed some of his conclusions to senior Russian officials.
The investigation into alleged collusion between Russians and the Trump campaign began last year under the supervision of then-FBI Director James Comey. Suspected Russian hackers stole emails from the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, and gave them to Wikileaks to publish in summer and fall 2016, and investigators were said to be looking at whether the Trump campaign assisted or encouraged the effort to expose the Democrats’ emails.
Russians also purchased ads on social media aimed at stoking division and damaging Clinton during the presidential race, and investigators were said to be looking into whether any Americans advised Russians on the best way to invest digital advertising buys.
Trump unexpectedly fired Comey on May 9, citing the FBI director’s handling of an unrelated investigation into Clinton and the recommendation of his deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, as the reasons for Comey’s dismissal. However, Trump later backtracked on those reasons, and reportedly told Russian officials during a closed-door meeting on May 10 that removing Comey, whom he described as a “nut job,” had relieved “great pressure” on him.
Comey instructed a friend to tell reporters about the existence of contemporaneous notes he had taken immediately after conversations with Trump, one of which allegedly included a request from Trump to end an investigation into former national security adviser Mike Flynn.
Rosenstein soon appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to oversee the Russian investigation. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, previously a surrogate for the Trump campaign, had recused himself from making decisions in the Russia case following the discovery that he had failed to disclose his own contacts with the Russian ambassador to the U.S.
Mueller’s probe had expanded from allegations of collusion to include Manafort’s illicit activities in Ukraine, Flynn’s foreign lobbying activities for Turkey, Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting last summer with a Russian lawyer, and any attempts from administration officials to block investigators’ access to information.
The obstruction of justice inquiry from Mueller’s team reportedly ensnared a number of current and former White House aides — including former press secretary Sean Spicer and former chief of staff Reince Priebus — who may have been questioned about whether they had knowledge of any steps White House aides took to cover up evidence sought by the FBI.
