WASHINGTON: Former Trump campaign Paul Manafort and associate Rick Gates have been indicted by investigators probing Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections. Campaign adviser George Papadapoulos pleaded guilty in early October to lying to the FBI. The revelation is a sharp escalation of US Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller's five-month-old inquiry into the alleged Russian efforts to lean the US presidential polls in the billionaire's favour.
Longtime Republican operative, Manafort, 58, and Gates were called at a federal courthouse in the capital, where both pleaded not guilty to charges in a 12-count indictment, ranging from money laundering to acting as unregistered agents of Ukraine's former pro-Russian government. The judge has ordered house arrest for both of them, and a $10 million unsecured bond for Manafort, and a $5 million unsecured bond for Gates. While they were released without having to pay, they will owe money if they fail to appear in court due on Thursday this week. Mueller's investigation along with others by congressional committees into alleged Russian efforts to influence the election, have dampened President Donald Trump's nine months in office.
US intelligence agencies reveal that Russia interfered in the polls by hacking and releasing embarrassing emails and spreading an online propaganda to discredit Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, who was strongly in the lead. While Russia has denied all allegations, Trump has denied any collusion.
The President remain unnamed in the indictment against Manafort and Gates. Most of the charges, some going back over a decade, focus on Manafort's work for Ukraine. The indictment includes accusations of conspiracy against the United States, failure to report foreign bank accounts to the US government and conspiracy to launder money, a count that carries a 20-year maximum prison sentence. A White House spokeswoman has said that the indictment had no relation whatsoever, with Trump or his campaign.
Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said, “We've been saying from Day One, there's no evidence of Trump-Russia collusion, and nothing in the indictment today changes that at all.” Trump, meanwhile, has responded in classic Trump style, venting his frustration of the “witch hunt” on Twitter.
“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?????,” Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to Clinton.
