Trump’s Campaign Chairman Tied to Undisclosed Foreign Lobbying

Documents disclosed by the US Department of Justice appear to confirm the Trump campaign leader has never declared his work for the Ukrainian government or Mr Yanukovych’s party, as would be required by US legislation.

Though FARA violations are rarely prosecuted, they carry a heavy potential penalty: up to five years in prison or a $250,000 fine.

The news also came amidst another round of shake-ups in Trump’s campaign headquarters. For one, both hired USA political consultant Paul Manafort (C), who is Trump’s campaign chairman. His work in Ukraine over the past decade has been well-known, especially how he helped Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian politician, engineer a turnabout in his fortunes to become Ukraine’s president, until he fled office in the face of mass demonstrations in 2014, triggering Russian President Vladimir Putin’s seizure of Crimea and instigation of a violent insurrection in the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk.

The nonprofit, the newly created European Centre for a Modern Ukraine, was governed by a board that initially included parliament members from Yanukovych’s party.

After Yanukovych refused to sign an association agreement with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Russian Federation, demonstrations led to a violent crisis culminating with his fleeing the country in early 2014, followed by Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

The emails do not describe details about the role of Manafort, who was Gates’ boss at the firm, DMP International LLC.

The report cites Gates as saying that “he and Manafort introduced the lobbying firms to the European Centre nonprofit and occasionally consulted with the firms on Ukrainian politics”.

He characterized the actions as “lawful”, according to the AP, and said there was no effort to get around registering under FARA.

Under FARA, American lobbyists must report to the Justice Department if they are employed by foreign governments, and provide detailed disclosures.

But with the latest revelations about shady deals Manafort seems to have been involved in while in Ukraine, he’s looking more like a serious liability. “It paints a very disturbing picture and I think the voters need to pay a lot of attention to that”.

The campaign of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee for president, slammed the Trump campaign’s perceived cozying up to Russian Federation in a conference call Wednesday.

A Ukrainian prosecutor alleges that Manafort advised the pro-Russian Party of Regions as early as 2006, when the party staged a series of anti-NATO protests and supported Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

The Podesta Group received $1.13 million of the European Centre’s $2.2 million outlay.

One of those firms, Mercury, lobbied against efforts in the US Congress to pressure Ukraine into releasing an opponent of Mr Yanukovych from jail.

Former employees of the Podesta Group also shed the arrangement in a negative light, with at least one former employee arguing that it was illegal. Podesta said that he was not aware of any internal disagreement.

Paul Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, never disclosed their work as foreign agents between 2012 and 2014 as required under federal law.

“To further ensure legal compliance, our agreement with the Centre included a signed attestation that ‘none of the activities of the Centre are directly or indirectly supervised, directed, controlled, financed or subsidized in whole or in part by a government of a foreign country or a foreign political party, ‘” she added.

However, if Manafort or Rick Gates – another Trump campaign strategist who had worked with Yanukovych’s party – had advised the Centre on what USA lobby firms to hire at the time, that may also have triggered disclosure for them under FARA.

“If counsel had determined FARA was the way to go, we would have gladly registered under FARA”, Fitts told the AP. The entries were discovered on the accounting books of Yanukovych’s ousted party. John Podesta has not been with the firm for several years, but his brother is its chairman. “Our assumption was that he was working for the Centre, as we were hired to do”.

The Brussels-based head of the group, Ina Kirsch, told BuzzFeed News she had “nothing to do with Manafort”, though she told the AP she had met with Manafort twice.

Pointing to Manafort’s involvement, Weber told AP that Manafort discussed the project before it began in a conference call with Podesta and himself.

The center has declined for years to reveal specific sources of its funding.