Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort alerted authorities to Donald Trump Jr.’s infamous meeting with the Russian lawyer during his father’s presidential campaign.
Manafort, who is facing increasing pressure from U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller, divulged Trump Jr.’s meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya about three months ago, Bloomberg reported.
Responding to a congressional request for information, Manafort revealed the meeting and provided 300 documents, although FBI agents went on to raid his Virginia home two weeks ago.
Trump, responding to news of the raid, said, “I was very, very surprised to see it….I’ve always found Paul Manafort to be a very decent man.”
Investigators are looking into accusations of money laundering in an attempt to pressure Manafort into cooperating with the probe into the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia, two sources told Reuters.
“If Mueller’s team can threaten criminal charges against Manafort, they could use that as leverage to convince him to cooperate,” said one of the sources.
But the former campaign manager’s spokesman Jason Maloni said, “Paul Manafort is not a cooperating witness.”
Maloni also told Bloomberg that Manafort was enlisting the services of a D.C.-based law firm Miller & Chevalier,which focuses on tax law, to replace WilmerHale, where Mueller previously worked.
Mueller’s investigation has extended to global bank transactions involving Manafort, as well as his business partner Rick Gates and son-in-law, Jeffrey Yohai.
Yohai, who is under investigation for real estate deals he made with Manafort, turned over documents to Mueller’s probe more than two months ago, CNN reported.
