President Trump’s former campaign manager repeated his assertion Tuesday morning that the campaign never had any warning that Paul Manafort was the subject of an FBI investigation, and the campaign should have been warned for security reasons.
“If it is true that Paul was under a FISA warrant prior to coming under the campaign, then I think the FBI should have probably notified the campaign and said, ‘Look, you’ve got a person here who is currently under surveillance, and we want to raise that issue to you so you’re aware of it,'” Lewandowski said on Fox News.
.@CLewandowski_: If it is true that Manafort was under a FISA warrant before joining the campaign, the FBI should’ve warned us pic.twitter.com/vgHW1ptAye
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) October 31, 2017
Reports from last month said Manafort was the subject of an FBI investigation in 2014, long before Trump announced his candidacy. CNN reported that Manafort was the subject of a government wiretap, which was approved under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Manafort joined Trump’s campaign in March 2016, but left by August.
Lewandowski said that while the federal government runs background checks on people, private campaigns don’t have that same chance.
“Never was I contacted, never was the president or the candidate contacted about any relationship Paul Manafort might have had by a government authority,” he said.
“You would think that just from a security standpoint, they would come and brief the campaign, and say, ‘Look, we’ve got some concerns about this person. You’re still welcome to hire them, but at least we make you aware of it,'” he said. “That never occurred.”
