Mueller unveils more proof Manafort led Ukraine lobbying in U.S.

Source: Politico



By JOSH GERSTEIN and THEODORIC MEYER 06/12/2018 11:32 PM EDT

Special counsel Robert Mueller made public new evidence Tuesday that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort directed an organized but unregistered lobbying campaign in the U.S. on behalf of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

In a public court filing, Mueller's team released two memos from 2013 detailing Manafort's involvement in efforts to influence debate in Congress and in the U.S. press about the imprisonment of Yanukovych's main political rival, Yulia Tymoshenko.

Manafort is facing a September trial on charges that he violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act by failing to register with the Justice Department in connection with the lobbying campaign, among other charges.

Mueller's prosecutors obtained a new indictment last week, adding new charges that Manafort sought to obstruct justice by tampering with the potential testimony of two people involved in the lobbying campaign. Those people — who aren't identified in court documents but appear to be Alan Friedman and Eckart Sager, two former journalists based in Europe — directed efforts by a group of former European politicians to burnish Yanukovych's reputation, according to prosecutors.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/12/mueller-manafort-evidence-ukraine-lobbying-643476