FBI Raided Home of Trump’s Former Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort in July

It was done as part of Russia probe: Were Trump’s same-day tweets a distraction?

Paul Manafort
Twitter

FBI agents searched one of the homes of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and it occurred the same morning that the president was busy making news on Twitter.

Manafort’s spokesman Jason Maloni confirmed the search on Wednesday, noting that Trump’s former staffer cooperated.

“Mr. Manafort has consistently cooperated with law enforcement and other serious inquiries and did so on this occasion as well,” Maloni said in a statement on Wednesday.

Manafort, who has denied any wrongdoing, has been a subject of an ongoing FBI investigation into his dealings in Ukraine. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is also investigating Manafort as part of his probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.

Maloni didn’t specify when the raid occurred, but the Washington Post reported that it happened on the morning of July 26. The date is also when Trump sent a series of tweets bashing Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who the president has publicly said he regrets hiring because he recused himself from the Russia investigation.

Trump tweeted that he would ban transgender people from the military on the same morning, which many political watchdogs assumed was simply designed to be a distraction against something larger.

Check out some of Trump’s July 26 tweets:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/890193981585444864

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/890196164313833472

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/890197095151546369

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/890207082926022656

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/890208319566229504

Manafort stepped down as chairman of the Trump campaign following the GOP primaries, shortly after Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway were added to the staff. Last summer, the AP reported that Manafort oversaw lobbying work that could have benefited the Ukrainian government. The lobbying was reportedly an attempt to promote a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party’s interests in Washington.

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