FBI searched ex-Trump campaign chairman’s home

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

FBI agents have searched one of the homes of President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, whose past foreign political work has been swept into the investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election. A Manafort spokesman confirmed the search Wednesday.

Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni said in a statement that FBI agents had obtained a warrant and searched one of Manafort’s homes, but he would not say when the search occurred.

The Washington Post, which first reported the raid, said agents working with Special Counsel Robert Mueller conducted the search the morning of July 26 at Manafort’s home in Alexandria, Va.

The Associated Press has learned the warrant for the July 26 search at Manafort’s home in Alexandria, Va., sought information including tax documents and banking records.

“Mr. Manafort has consistently cooperated with law enforcement and other serious inquiries and did so on this occasion as well,” Maloni said.

Manafort has been a subject of a longstanding FBI investigation into his dealings in Ukraine and work for the country’s former president, Viktor Yanukovych. That investigation has been incorporated into the probe led by Mueller, who is also scrutinizing Manafort’s role in the Trump campaign as he looks into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election and any possible collusion with Trump associates.

Manafort, who led the Trump campaign for several months, has denied any wrongdoing.

He also spoke behind closed doors to Senate investigators for an interview just one day before the search of his home.

The use of a search warrant shows law-enforcement officials have convinced a judge there is probable cause to believe a crime may have been committed.

Word of the raid is the latest revelation about Mueller’s investigation, which had been operating in relative secrecy compared with numerous congressional probes looking at the election.

In recent days, it’s become clear the former FBI director is using a grand jury in Washington in addition to one in the Eastern District of Virginia, where investigators also have been looking into former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.