Trump says he was 'very, very surprised' by raid at Manafort's home

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

President Trump told reporters on Thursday that he was "very, very surprised" to learn that FBI agents conducted a pre-dawn raid in July at the Virginia home of Paul Manafort, who served as his campaign chairman for six months last year.

"You know, they do that very seldom, so I was surprised to see it," he said. "I was very, very surprised to see it. I thought it was a very, very strong signal, or whatever." Manafort's home was raided as part of the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, and Manafort's spokesman, Jason Maloni, told CNN Manafort has "consistently cooperated with law enforcement and other serious inquiries and did so on this occasion as well."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.