June 28 (UPI) — Paul Manafort, the former chairman of Donald Trump‘s presidential campaign, has registered as a foreign agent after making more than $17 million from a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party, disclosure reports indicate.
In a filing to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Foreign Agents Registration Act unit, Manafort said his DMP International firm received more than $17 million from the pro-Russian Party of Regions Ukrainian political party for consulting work from 2012 until 2014.
Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was removed from power in 2014, was a leader of that Ukrainian party. Manafort’s filing comes as the U.S. government investigates Russia’s alleged interference of the 2016 U.S. presidential election and any possible connection such meddling had with Trump campaign officials.
“Today, Paul Manafort registered with the Department of Justice’s FARA unit for his work on behalf of Ukraine’s Party of Regions,” Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni said Tuesday. “He started this process in concert with FARA’s unit in September, before the outcome of the election and well before any formal investigation of election interference began.”
Manafort’s filing is the first time he acknowledged his lobbying work for Ukraine’s former president was aimed at influencing U.S. policy makers and journalists, The Wall Street Journal reported. Manafort has repeatedly denied coordination with Russia.
In the documents, Manafort said he gave “strategic counsel and advice to members of the Party of Regions regarding their interaction with U.S. government officials and other Western influential persons to advance the goal of greater political and economic integration between the Ukraine and the West.”
Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn in March registered as a foreign agent for consulting work performed for a Turkish businessman that could have benefited the Turkish government.
