A new government filing opposing Paul Manafort's attempt to suppress evidence in the case against him reveals FBI agents were looking for, among other things, information about the June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting when they searched his Alexandria, Virginia condominium and a storage locker nearby.
According to the latest court filing by the Mueller inquiry, which is defending a warrant attached to a raid on Manafort’s home in July 2017, part of what the FBI were hunting for were “communications, records, documents, and other files involving any of the attendees of the June 9, 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, as well as Aras and [Emin] Agalarov.”
Investigators were also searching for documents relating to Manafort and his associates' financial dealings, bank accounts, payments made by foreign individuals, and work on behalf of foreign entities, such as governments or officials.
The Agalarovs, a wealthy Azeri family, helped arrange the meeting by connecting the Trump campaign with the Russian lawyer, though they are not believed to have been present at it.
Natasha Bertrand, now with The Atlantic but formerly with Business Insider, wrote about Manafort's meeting notes in January.
Contemporaneous notes taken by President Donald Trump's campaign chairman Paul Manafort at a meeting with a Russian lawyer and lobbyist at Trump Tower during the election reference Cyprus, "active sponsors of RNC," and "Russian adoptions by American families," according to an interview transcript released by Congress earlier this week.
Senate Judiciary Committee investigators showed the notes to Glenn Simpson, the cofounder of the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, and asked him whether he recognized any of the terms or phrases Manafort wrote down during the June 9 meeting and later provided to congressional investigators.
The notes mentioned "active sponsors of RNC" and referenced Juleanna Glover, a political strategist and lobbyist who served as Dick Cheney's press secretary during the Iraq war, according to the transcript. There was also a reference to "133 million," according to Simpson.
Prosecutors for Special Counsel Robert Mueller argue the FBI's searches were lawful and not overly broad, as Manafort's attorneys have alleged. The government says the affidavit used to get the search warrant for Manafort's condo was full of relevant facts, indicating both Manafort and Rick Gates had committed crimes.
The filing also revealed Mueller has reviewed Manafort's and Gates' previous testimony from a civil lawsuit regarding a business dispute with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
Manafort once worked as a political consultant for Deripaska, who was considered close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Deripaska then invested $18.9 million with Manafort in a cable-television venture in Ukraine, and paid him $7.35 million in management fees. The deal ultimately soured, and Deripaska sued to try to get an accounting of the money.
Deripaska, the billionaire founder and majority shareholder of En+ Group, was among the most prominent tycoons penalized with sanctions this month by the Trump administration.
The documents filed late Monday by prosecutors in the office of special counsel Robert S. Mueller ... show that the FBI had interviewed Manafort in March 2013 and again in July 2014. Manafort’s deputy, Rick Gates, who also held a top role with Trump’s campaign, was interviewed by the FBI in July 2014, the documents show.
The information raises fresh questions about how closely the Trump campaign vetted staff members and whether Manafort and Gates told officials about their interactions with the FBI.
(...)
A person familiar with Manafort’s work on the campaign said there was no information to suggest that the FBI had alerted the Trump campaign to any concerns the bureau had with Manafort.
The new court filings indicate that prosecutors provided Manafort with copies of his past interviews to help him prepare for trial on charges including conspiracy, money laundering, and tax and bank fraud. Manafort has pleaded not guilty.
Gates pleaded guilty to conspiracy and lying to the FBI in February and is cooperating with Mueller’s investigation.
In a separate filing, prosecutors defended a May 2017 search in Alexandria of a rental storage unit containing Manafort’s files, disputing assertions that an FBI agent gained access through an employee who didn’t have the authority to allow such an entry. Manafort asked a judge to throw out all evidence from the search, which underpins charges against him.
In asking to suppress that evidence, Manafort claimed the employee lacked authority to consent to the warrantless search. Prosecutors countered that the agent believed the worker could allow the search because he signed the lease, held a key and had moved files into and out of the space. Agents returned the next day with a warrant and took the files.
Manafort's defense has also argued that the warrant for the locker was invalid because of the lack of any time limitation on the records authorized to be seized. The warrant issued in July for Manafort's Alexandria condo was limited to records dated 2006 or later.
Prosecutors say no time limitation was legally required and the FBI agents involved were entitled to rely on what appeared to be a valid warrant. However, Mueller's team seems to sense some weakness on the issue and argued to Jackson that if she believes the lack of a time limit was critical, she should suppress evidence before 2006 but allow the records found from after that date.
Manafort interviewed twice by FBI before joining Trump’s 2016 campaign, new documents show (WaPo)
Mueller Reviewed Manafort Testimony on Russian Deripaska (Bloomberg Politics)
Prosecutors defend searches of Manafort's storage locker, condo (Politico)
FBI RAIDED MANAFORT OVER RECORDS OF TRUMP TOWER MEETING WITH RUSSIANS, MUELLER CONFIRMS (Newsweek)
Cyprus, a former press secretary, and the RNC: We now know more about Manafort's Trump Tower notes (Business Insider)