Paul Manafort's defense team filed a motion Wednesday, asking the judge to consider changing some deadlines, and accidentally attached a strategy memo that likely was not for public consumption. In it, Manafort's team outlines a relationship between the Associated Press and Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
CNN:
The one page of bullet points and sentence fragments, titled "DOJ, OSC AND THE PRESS" sketches a connection between information obtained by both Mueller's office and the Associated Press, alleging an exchange of information.
In additon, the memo references a confidential source inside Manafort's firm that provided a reporter with internal documents.
The memo indicates that an affidavit for a seizure warrant obtained by prosecutors on the same day Manafort was indicted in October says that a Davis Manafort staffer acknowledged allowing a journalist to look at the firm's digital records.
"In the Winter of 2017 (sic 2016) employee of DMI—CS-1 permitted the reporter to view material on a hard drive copy of DMI's electronic files," the document reads, using a standard FBI acronym for a confidential source. "Government obtained warrant for the hard drive."
CNN:
Lauren Easton, a spokesperson for the Associated Press, said Thursday, "The suggestion that AP would voluntarily serve as the source of information for a government agency is categorically untrue."
Notes in mistaken Manafort filing may show partial legal strategy (CNN)
Errant court filing suggests feds had informant at Manafort firm (Politico)