Hillary Clinton team hits report of Donald Trump aide’s ties to Russia

As if the Donald Trump campaign did not already have enough problems, Trump’s campaign chief, Paul Manafort, is now under investigation in the Ukraine for receiving secret payments from former president Viktor Yanukovych. According to the Times, investigators claim they were part of an illicit off-the-books operation, though Manafort denies ever getting such payments.

This controversy highlights the questionable nature of worldwide consulting that has been a tenet of Manafort’s work since the ’80s, when he worked with Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos (who implemented martial law and then ousted by the People Power Revolution) and later with other dictatorial leaders in the Dominican Republic, Kenya, Somalia, and more.

A report in the New York Times claims Trump’s top aide received more than 12 million dollars in secret payments from a Ukrainian political party with close ties to Russian Federation.

Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook says considering Trump’s “pro-Putin policy stances” – along with Russia’s suspected hacking and disclosure of Democratic Party records – Trump has a “responsibility” to disclose any links between his campaign officials and “Russian or pro-Kremlin entities”.

Before Donald Trump’s campaign chairman started working for The Donald, he was a key operative in the corrupt government of Ukrainian President Vickor Yanukovych. “It is well-known that I do work in the United States and have done work on overseas campaigns as well”.

The report provides more ammunition for Trump’s ongoing clash with the New York Times.

“The suggestion that I accepted cash payments is unfounded, silly and nonsensical”, he continued.

Yanukovych’s party relied heavily on Manafort’s advice to win multiple elections, before the former president fled to Russian Federation in 2014.

“The simplest answer is the truth: I am a campaign professional”, Manafort said in the statement.

Nevertheless, as the Times reported, handwritten ledgers show $12.7 million in cash payments from Yanukovych’s pro-Russian Party of Regions designated for Manafort between 2007 and 2012. The organization noted, however, that the presence of Manafort’s name on the list does not mean he received the money, and that the ledger does not contain his signature while others who were identified did sign it.

Charlie Black – a powerful Washington lobbyist who used to work at the firm Black, Manafort, Stone, and Kelly with Manafort – told Business Insider that he believes his former partner when the Trump campaign chair said on Monday that cash payments were not made to him by any Ukrainian official.

The Times said criminal prosecutors are looking into a group of offshore shell companies that have ties to both Manafort and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

For Manafort’s allies, his work with Yanukovych in Ukraine is evidence of his steady hand and skill under pressure: He revived a candidate who had lost a disputed election in 2004, defeating a political rival, Yulia Tymoshenko, who is known as a fearsome campaigner.

The same day, the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board said that Trump either needed to change his act or “turn the nomination over to Mike Pence”, his running mate.