The Alexandria, Virginia home of President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was raided by FBI agents late last month, the Washington Post reported Wednesday, as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
A spokesman for Manafort confirmed the report in a statement to TPM:
“FBI agents executed a search warrant at one of Mr. Manafort’s residences. Mr. Manafort has consistently cooperated with law enforcement and other serious inquiries and did so on this occasion as well.”
The agents searched Manafort’s home in the early morning of July 26 and obtained various records, according to the Washington Post report. Manafort had already been cooperating voluntarily with the congressional investigations into Russia’s role in the 2016 campaign.
According to the Washington Post, “The search warrant indicates investigators may have argued to a federal judge they had reason to believe Manafort could not be trusted to turn over all records in response to a grand jury subpoena.”
A spokesman for Mueller’s investigation declined to comment to the Washington Post about the raid. So did Manafort’s lawyer.
The New York Times confirmed the raid, and its report said that Manafort’s tax documents and foreign banking records were being sought by investigators. Sources told NBC News that the documents the investigators sought were tied to Manafort’s dealings in n Ukraine, Cyprus and elsewhere around the globe.
ABC News reported that the agents awoke Manafort when beginning the raid by knocking on his bedroom door.
Manafort served as the top Trump campaign official throughout the summer leading up to the 2016 election, and resigned in August amid increasing scrutiny of his years of work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine. Around the same time, Trump installed a new team to lead the campaign that included his current White House advisers Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway.
Manafort was present at a now-infamous June 2016 meeting that was first reported last month, where he, Trump’s son, Donald Jr., and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, met with figures affiliated with the Russian government who were promising damaging information on Hillary Clinton in order to help the Trump campaign.
