The FBI reportedly conducted a raid and search of Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort‘s home in connection with the investigation into alleged ties between the campaign team and Russian officials.
It is unclear at this time how significant the records taken from Mr Manafort’s home in the pre-dawn 26 July raid are to the investigation, according to the Washington Post.
The FBI came to his home after Mr Manafort had voluntarily met with the Senate Intelligence Committee behind closed doors the day prior.
He was there to discuss a meeting he attended in June 2016 with Donald Trump Jr, White House aide and Ivanka Trump’s husband Jared Kushner, and a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin, Natalia Veselnitskaya.
Special prosecutor Robert Mueller worked with the FBI on the wide-ranging search warrant obtained prior to the search.
As former FBI special agent Asha Rangappa pointed out on Twitter, to get the search warrant the FBI had to present evidence to a federal judge showing they had probable cause that Mr Manafort committed a crime and that evidence of it could be in his home.
It is the first instance in the parallel FBI, Congressional, and special prosecutor investigations where a federal judge has been involved.
It also appears to signal that Mr Mueller and the FBI did not trust the former campaign chairman to turn over all relevant records, even after a grand jury subpoena had been issued for him to do so.
some of which are reportedly notes from the June 2016 meeting with Ms Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower in New York.
The President’s namesake son appears to have taken the meeting in order to gain information about opponent Hillary Clinton’s alleged financial ties to Russia according to a string of emails he released himself.
Mr Trump and surrogates have defended the meeting, noting that it was simply “opposition research” any political campaign personnel would have done. No information seems to have been gleaned from the meeting and Ms Veselnitskaya said she only discussed how Russia stopped adoptions of children by US citizens.
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/896145899729977345
https://twitter.com/PalmerReport/status/896067956194426881
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/896068166069108736
https://twitter.com/TrueFactsStated/status/896064963906723840
I’ll take Russia for $1000 Alex!
https://twitter.com/PalmerReport/status/896039011201933312
https://twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/896030433246412800
https://twitter.com/Kelisia/status/895852252958564352
https://twitter.com/avonet5555/status/895853869187473410
https://twitter.com/ShimonPro/status/895756992303837184
A strong signal that Mueller is coming for yo ass…
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/895749844333076480
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/895728578406490112
https://twitter.com/funder/status/895722155891150848
https://twitter.com/PalmerReport/status/895725206949572609
Just the fact that they kept this hidden for weeks….they are about BUSINESS!!!
#TRUMP
Special counsel appointed
Healthcare vote failed
Grand Jury impaneled
Campaign chair home raided
So much winning….💅🏼
https://twitter.com/TheLastWord/status/895476966207434752
He created a distraction…..
https://twitter.com/shawsaluto/status/895432554580463617
https://twitter.com/TrueFactsStated/status/895285320404611072
https://twitter.com/PalmerReport/status/895497559900176387
https://twitter.com/SenBlumenthal/status/895406648163958786
https://twitter.com/funder/status/895489484598280192