President Donald Trump on Sunday lashed out at the Justice Department for not warning him that his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was the subject of investigation by “Comey and the boys.”
As only one of two people left who could become President, why wouldn’t the FBI or Department of “Justice” have told me that they were secretly investigating Paul Manafort (on charges that were 10 years old and had been previously dropped) during my campaign? Should have told me!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2018
….Paul Manafort came into the campaign very late and was with us for a short period of time (he represented Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole & many others over the years), but we should have been told that Comey and the boys were doing a number on him, and he wouldn’t have been hired!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2018
The tweets recalled a similar missive from the President late last month, when he wondered aloud, “why didn’t the crooked highest levels of the FBI or ‘Justice’ contact me to tell me of the phony Russia problem?”
In fact, as CNN pointed out, Trump was reportedly warned in August 2016 that foreign actors would attempt to infiltrate his campaign.
The Washington Post reported in April that Manafort had been interviewed twice by the FBI while working as a consultant for the pro-Russian Ukrainian ruler Viktor Yanukovych’s political party, in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
Trump’s attempt to minimize Manafort’s role echoes Sean Spicer’s statement in March of last year: the one-time campaign chairman “played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time,” Spicer said.
In reality, Manafort joined the campaign in March 2016 in order to oversee Trump’s Republican National Convention strategy, but his role quickly grew. In May, he was named campaign chairman. Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, after his firing in June, said that Manafort “has been in operational control of the campaign since April 7.”
Manafort has pleaded not guilty to several charges spread across two federal indictments, one each in Washington, D.C. and Virginia. But recent legal filings indicate more charges may be on the way.
