BuzzFeed News reports Bernie Sanders' political advisor Tad Devine, whose name appeared on a list of potential evidence Special Counsel Robert Mueller submitted for trial in the case against Paul Manafort, is cooperating with Mueller's team.
“The Special Counsel has asked Tad Devine to assist in the prosecution of their case against Paul Manafort regarding his firm’s work on media consulting on past political campaigns in Ukraine,” reads a statement provided by Julian Mulvey, a partner at Devine’s political firm, Devine Mulvey Longabaugh.
"When the Special Counsel sought assistance from us in its ongoing investigation, we readily provided it."
The firm, according to the statement, has been “assured by the special counsel’s office that we have no legal exposure and did not act unlawfully.”
Devine’s role in the investigation — first indicated last week by a court filing that included documents from Devine — nevertheless entangles the Sanders orbit in an expansive government inquiry that has probed questions surrounding Russia’s interference in the US election, Trump’s potential obstruction of justice, and the insider world of lobbying and influence in Washington.
Manafort and his former associate Rick Gates, who also served as Trump’s deputy campaign chair, worked on behalf of Viktor Yanukovych, the former pro-Russia president of Ukraine beginning in the mid-2000s until the mid-2010s, after Yanukovych left office. Gates was originally charged as Manafort’s co-defendant, but has since pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s office.
Devine also worked in Ukraine with Manafort on Yanukovych’s behalf, a detail of his career that has been public for years.
The court filing last week showed that emails and documents from Devine and his consulting firm, Devine Mulvey Longabaugh, could be presented to the jury as evidence in the case against Manafort.
On Thursday, however, lawyers for Manafort filed court papers asking a federal judge in Virginia to exclude more than 50 items from that list. The filing includes copies of those exhibits. The documents made public include emails to and from Devine, items like speech drafts, talking points, strategy memos, the draft for a television ad, and a discussion of compensation, which offer an inside glimpse at the kind of lucrative work Devine and others did in Ukraine.
Read more: Bernie Sanders Adviser Is Assisting Special Counsel Investigation In Manafort Case (BuzzFeed News)