Two former Trump aides charged in Russia probe, 3rd pleads guilty

WASHINGTON — Federal investigators probing Russian interference in the 2016 United States election charged President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort and another aide Rick Gates with money laundering on Monday (Oct 30).

A third former Trump adviser, George Papadopoulos, pleaded guilty in early October to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, it was announced on Monday.

It was a sharp escalation of US Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller's five-month-old investigation into alleged Russian efforts to tilt the election in Mr Trump's favour and into potential collusion by Trump aides.

Manafort, 68, a longtime Republican operative, and Gates were arraigned at a federal courthouse in Washington.

Both men pleaded not guilty to the charges against them in a 12-count indictment, ranging from money laundering to acting as unregistered agents of Ukraine's former pro-Russian government.

The judge ordered house arrest for both men, and set a US$10 million unsecured bond for Manafort and a US$5 million unsecured bond for Gates. With unsecured bonds, they are released without having to pay but will owe money if they fail to appear in court. There will be another hearing on Thursday.

The developments in the Mueller probe weighed on the US dollar, which slipped 0.5 per cent against a basket of currencies.

Mueller's investigation and others by congressional committees into alleged Russian efforts to influence the election have cast a shadow over Mr Trump's first nine months in office.

Neither Mr Trump nor his campaign was mentioned in the indictment against Manafort and Gates. The charges, some going back more than a decade, centre 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 said the indictment had nothing to do with Mr Trump or his campaign and showed no evidence of collusion between the campaign and Russia.

"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," spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told a news briefing.

Manafort's attorney Kevin Downing said in a statement that there was no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government. Mr Downing said Manafort's work for the Ukrainians ended in 2014, two years before he joined the Trump campaign.

Mr Downing accused Mr Mueller of using a "novel" legal theory to prosecute Manafort under a law requiring lobbyists to register with the Department of Justice when they are doing work for a foreign government.

Mr Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor in Chicago, said the charges against Manafort could put pressure on him to cooperate with the Russia investigation.

"If I were the defence lawyer, I'd be looking into cooperating,* he said.

GUILTY PLEA

In a development directly related to Mr Trump's 2016 election campaign, it emerged on Monday that Papadopoulos, a former campaign adviser, pleaded guilty earlier this month to making false statements to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents.

Mr Mueller's office said Papadopoulos lied to FBI agents about the timing of contact between him and a professor in London who claimed to have information that would hurt Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Papadopoulos, a little-known former foreign policy adviser in the campaign, made a plea bargain which stated that he has since "met with the Government on numerous occasions to provide information and answer questions", according to a court document.

White House spokeswoman Sanders played down Papadopoulos' campaign role, saying it was "extremely limited" and that he was a volunteer.

"He asked to do things (and) he was basically pushed back or not responded to in any way," she said.

US intelligence agencies say Russia interfered in the election, by hacking and releasing embarrassing e-mails and disseminating propaganda via social media to discredit Mrs Clinton.

Manafort ran the Trump campaign from June to August of 2016 before resigning amid reports he might have received millions of dollars in illegal payments from a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine.

Mr Trump on Monday reiterated his frustration with the Mueller probe, which he has called "a witch hunt". Moscow also denies the allegations.

"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?????," Mr Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to Mrs Clinton.

Mueller has been investigating Manafort*s financial and real estate dealings and his prior work for a political group, the Party of Regions, which backed former pro-Kremlin Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich.

Both Manafort and Gates generated tens of millions of dollars of income from Ukraine work and laundered money through scores of US and foreign entities to hide payments from the American authorities, the indictment said.

They concealed from the United States their work and revenue as agents of Ukrainian political parties and used their wealth to lead a "lavish lifestyle" without paying taxes on the income, it said.

The indictment said Manafort owned properties in Manhattan; Brooklyn; the Hamptons; Arlington, Virginia, and elsewhere.

Prosecutors said Manafort spent almost US$1 million on eight rugs in two years and more than $1.3 million on clothes from shops in Beverly Hills, California, and New York City. They also said he had been making payments on four Range Rovers and a Mercedes-Benz.

Gates was a longtime business partner of Manafort and has ties to Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs. He also served as deputy to Manafort during his brief tenure as Mr Trump's campaign chairman.

Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer called for the Trump administration to avoid interfering with Mr Mueller's probe.

"The rule of law is paramount in America and the investigation must be allowed to proceed unimpeded. The president must not, under any circumstances, interfere with the special counsel's work in any way," Mr Schumer said. REUTERS