Officials from the American and Ukrainian governments are both separately seeking recorded statements from Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman. The questioning will be about Manafort’s work for a pro-Russia political party from Ukraine, which was headed by Ukraine’s former President Viktor Yanukovich.
As the House Intelligence Committee looks into the possibility of Russian interference in last year’s US election, one of the key people the group wants to testify before them is Manafort. Rep. Jim Himes told members of the press that Manafort would be “at the top of my list to testify.” These sentiments were expressed on Monday when the committee had its first public hearing. In a separate statement, Mr. Himes said, “Of all of the characters in and around the Trump campaign and administration, Paul Manafort’s relationships with Russians are by far the longest-standing and the deepest.” Additionally, the Connecticut representative said that Manafort’s networks in Ukraine were marred with shady pasts, and as such his relationship with these individuals would be looked into even deeper.
During the proceedings, FBI Director James Comey admitted to the committee that members of the bureau were undertaking investigations to find out whether Trump’s campaign colluded with the Russians and, if so, to what extent.
As these proceedings continued, one of the top investigative departments within Ukrainian law enforcement sent an official request to the Department of Justice for assistance in having Manafort get to their offices for questioning. According to Serhiy Gorbatyuk, Manafort’s questioning will be about the position he played in 2014 when Ukranian riots ousted former President Yanukovich from his leadership position.
However, this is not the first time Gorbatyuk has requested for help from the Department of Justice. On a previous occasion, his section of law enforcement in Ukraine had asked the DOJ to assist them in conducting investigations as to Yanukovich’s misuse of public funds. Law enforcement accused the then president of using the money to his advantage. Reports showed that some government funding had been paid off to a Washington law firm which was handling Yanukovich’s case with an imprisoned political foe of his.
At the time, the Department of Justice did not respond to Gorbatyuk’s requests. This is despite his section sending the department two official requests and an additional five “reminders” after they did not get any correspondence from the office. Further, this section of Ukraine’s law department went ahead to also write to FBI Director James Comey because the bureau is under the Department of Justice.
Gorbatyuk has admitted that his department has suffered a lot of confusion from the lack of cooperation from the Bureau. There have been expectations over the past that the two departments would work well easily since there is an evidence-sharing agreement between the FBI and the Ukrainian Persecutor’s Office. In response to press queries concerning his opinion about the lack of a response, Gorbatyuk said, “I would call it a lack of understanding why it’s taking so long to fulfill our requests.”
Lack of support from the Department of Justice could significantly hamper Ukrainian investigations. Additionally, they could lose a chance to obtain important material for their case against Yanukovich. In line with these sentiments, Gorbatyuk said, “For our investigations, it is important to receive the materials that fulfill our requests, and these include interviews with [the Washington law firm] and Paul Manafort.”
So far, Manafort has said neither the Ukranian investigation firm nor the FBI has contacted him for questioning. Concerning the allegations, he has stated that they are “a blatant attempt to discredit me and the legitimacy of the election of President Trump.”
