Trump aide 'tried to hide' Russian payment
Paul Manafort denies receiving $750,000 from pro-Russia Party of Regions
Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort has been accused of trying to hide a $750,000 (£600,000) payment he received from a pro-Russia party in 2009.
Ukrainian lawmaker Serhiy Leshchenko, "a former investigative journalist, published an invoice purportedly signed by Mr Manafort that showed a $750,000 payment for a shipment of computers to a firm called Davis Manafort", the BBC reports.
At the time, Manafort was an adviser to former Ukraine president Viktor Yanukovych and his Russian-backed Party of Regions. He denies receiving any cash payments.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Leshchenko claimed the amount and the date of the payment matches an entry in the so-called "black ledgers" - handwritten accounting books said to belong to Yanukovych's party - where Manafort's name is mentioned.
He also alleged the contract was a cover for payments for Manfort's consulting services to the Party of Regions, which was ousted after a public uprising in 2014.
Manafort's spokesman told CNN the lobbyist "did not recognise the document and that the signature was not his".
Ukrainian human rights lawyer Eugenia Zakrevska has also called on Manafort to explain the contents of text messages reportedly hacked from his daughter Andrea's phone, Business Insider reports.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The messages are said to contain conversations between Andrea Manafort and her sister, Jessica. In them, Andrea Manafort allegedly says their father has "no moral or legal compass".
"You know he has killed people in Ukraine? Knowingly," she reportedly asked. "As a tactic to outrage the world and get focus on Ukraine. Remember when there were all those deaths taking place. A while back. About a year ago. Revolts and what not.
"Do you know whose strategy that was to cause that, to send those people out and get them slaughtered?"
Trump's former aide is just one of a number of the President's associates currently under scrutiny for possible contacts with Russia during the election campaign last year. An FBI investigation is ongoing.
-
Is the UK headed for recession?Today’s Big Question Sluggish growth and rising unemployment are ringing alarm bells for economists
-
Dianarama examines the ‘extraordinary scale’ of Bashir’s liesThe Week Recommends Andy Webb’s book is packed with ‘astonishing’ allegations surrounding Princess Diana’s 1995 Panorama interview
-
Americans traveling abroad face renewed criticism in the Trump eraThe Explainer Some of Trump’s behavior has Americans being questioned
-
What a rising gold price says about the global economyThe Explainer Institutions, central banks and speculators drive record surge amid ‘loss of trust’ in bond markets and US dollar
-
US mints final penny after 232-year runSpeed Read Production of the one-cent coin has ended
-
Argentinian beef is at the center of American farmers’ woesThe Explainer ‘It feels like a slap in the face to rural America,’ said one farmer
-
Will latest Russian sanctions finally break Putin’s resolve?Today's Big Question New restrictions have been described as a ‘punch to the gut of Moscow’s war economy’
-
China’s rare earth controlsThe Explainer Beijing has shocked Washington with export restrictions on minerals used in most electronics
-
The struggles of Aston Martin: burning cash not rubberIn the Spotlight The car manufacturer, famous for its association with the James Bond franchise, is ‘running out of road’
-
Why are beef prices rising? And how is politics involved?Today's Big Question Drought, tariffs and consumer demand all play a role
-
Labor: Federal unions struggle to survive TrumpFeature Trump moves to strip union rights from federal workers