This week news broke that last month FBI agents raided the home of Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman.
As the Washington Post revealed:
“FBI agents raided the Alexandria home of President Trump’s former campaign chairman late last month, using a search warrant to seize documents and other materials, according to people familiar with the special counsel investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.”
According to both the Washington Post and The New York Times, agents were looking for “tax documents and foreign banking records” in connection with Russia and the 2016 election.
The breaking news was confirmed by Manafort’s spokesman via Twitter:
Manafort spokesman confirms raid. Different person familiar w/probe says Manafort was in town at the time of the pre-dawn raid.
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) August 9, 2017
Looking back, the same day as the raids (July 26, 2017), Trump posted tweets demanding to know why Attorney General Jeff Sessions hadn’t moved to replace then-acting FBI director Andrew McCabe:
Why didn't A.G. Sessions replace Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, a Comey friend who was in charge of Clinton investigation but got….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
…big dollars ($700,000) for his wife's political run from Hillary Clinton and her representatives. Drain the Swamp!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
As the acting director at the time, Andrew McCabe would have overseen, or at least been aware of, the raid of Manafort’s home.
Manafort is under scrutiny after it was revealed that he attended a June 2016 meeting between Trump campaign officials and a Russian lawyer who promised, via a third party, to provide incriminating information about Hillary Clinton. This meeting was mentioned in emails released by Donald Trump Jr. last month.
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