Paul Manafort in early 2017 advised President Donald Trump and senior White House officials on how to undermine and discredit the FBI’s inquiry into Russian collusion, and lied to investigators about it, Vox reports.
Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, already has been convicted by a federal jury of 10 felonies and is awaiting trial on other charges. He agreed to a plea deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team in September, but allegedly breached the pact soon after.
“After signing the plea agreement, Manafort stated he had no direct or indirect communications with anyone in the administration while they were in the administration, and that he never asked anyone to try and communicate a message to anyone in the administration on any subject,” Mueller said in a court pleading last Friday.
But text messages, electronic records, and witness interviews proved otherwise, according to Mueller, and “the evidence demonstrates that Manafort lied about his contacts.”
Sources who spoke with Vox say Manafort in the spring and summer of 2017 urged the president to attack the FBI and the Democratic National Committee and gave Trump and some of his administration officials advice on how to discredit some of the witnesses speaking up against Manafort and the president.
Manafort also suggested Trump administration officials attack the Justice Department, the FBI, and Obama administration officials for seeking FISA warrants to run surveillance on Manafort and former Trump aide Carter Page.
Manafort, said one person, wanted to “declare a public relations war on the FBI.”
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.