Paul Manafort reportedly had a secret meeting with Julian Assange in spring 2016

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort reportedly met with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in secret just months before WikiLeaks published a trove of emails that Russia stole from the Democratic National Committee.

A Tuesday report from The Guardian cites a "well-placed source" who says Manafort met with Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London sometime around March 2016, the month he joined President Trump's campaign team. The two reportedly also met in 2013 and 2015. The Guardian reports that a document written by Ecuador's Senain intelligence agency lists Paul Manafort as a well-known guest at the embassy, where Assange resides, although his name is spelled incorrectly as "Paul Manaford." Manafort said any suggestion he was involved in the DNC hack is "100 percent false."

While it's unclear what Manafort and Assange may have discussed, this report will likely be of interest to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, as he continues to investigate possible collusion between Trump's campaign and Russians who hacked the DNC and released emails through WikiLeaks. Mueller on Monday said Manafort repeatedly lied to the FBI, violating his plea deal after agreeing to cooperate with the probe. Manafort did not respond to The Guardian's questions about his visits.

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