A new phase has been entered in the sprawling investigation into Russia and US President Donald Trump with the charging of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and two other aides.
The move underscores the continuing threat special counsel Robert Mueller poses to the president.
Mr Trump immediately sought to distance himself after Paul Manafort and Rick Gates pleaded not guilty on Monday to a 12-count indictment alleging money laundering, conspiracy and other offences.
(Dana Verkouteren via AP)
Another former aide was revealed to be co-operating with authorities after entering a guilty plea to lying to the FBI.
White House officials were publicly optimistic about Mr Mueller’s investigation wrapping up swiftly, but the probe is far from over and its reach still uncertain.
Mr Trump has become increasingly concerned that the Mueller probe could be moving beyond Russia to an investigation into his personal dealings, two people familiar with the president’s thinking said.
Mr Trump expressed irritation on Monday that he was being tarnished by his former aides.
Paul Manafort (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
In the hours after the indictment, the president angrily told one confidant that Mr Manafort had been a campaign “part-timer” who had only helped steer the convention and got too much credit for Mr Trump’s ability to hold on to the nomination, according to a person familiar with the private discussion.
Mr Trump dismissed the money-laundering charges against Mr Manafort as typical political corruption that did not reflect on his campaign, one of the people said.
The president also insisted that the charges predated Mr Manafort’s time on the campaign and that he should not be held responsible for any prior misdeeds by him.
Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren't Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2017
Mr Trump used Twitter to argue that allegations against Mr Manafort were from “years ago” and asserted there was “NO COLLUSION” between his campaign and Russia.
But the indictment against Mr Manafort and Mr Gates details allegations stretching from 2006 to 2017.
Mr Trump’s insistence that there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia was complicated by the disclosure that campaign adviser George Papadopoulos was answering questions from prosecutors after admitting he lied about his unsuccessful attempts to broker a meeting between Mr Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
….Also, there is NO COLLUSION!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2017
The White House tried to play down the campaign role of Mr Papadopoulos, who Mr Trump named as a foreign policy adviser in March 2016, saying the aide’s attempts to earn assistance from Russian nationals were unauthorised.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders dismissed him as an unpaid “volunteer” and said “no activity was ever done in an official capacity on behalf of the campaign in that regard”.
Mr Mueller’s office revealed in a court filing that Mr Papadopoulos was now assisting the investigation as a “proactive co-operator”.
Mr Trump fumed in recent weeks that he believes Mr Mueller was taking an expansive view of his role and looking beyond the narrow definition of alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article