Changes

During the 2008 campaign, the Davis Manafort firm disclosed through its U.S. partner Daniel J. Edelman Inc., that it was working for the political party in Ukraine supporting Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who was backed by Putin. "Davis Manafort International LLC is directed by a foreign political party, the Ukraine Parties of Regions, to consult on the political campaign in Ukraine," the January 2008 Foreign Agent Registration Act filing showed.  The work included developing "a communications campaign to increase Prime Minister Yanukovych's visibility in the U.S. and [[Europe]]," the report added, indicating that Davis and Manafort were being paid a $35,000 a month retainer for the work that began in spring 2007.  Manafort was first questioned by the FBI about his Russian and Ukrainian ties in 2014 while working with the McCain campaign, two years before he became Trump's campaign manager, and agents probed him on how he first came to work for Deripaska through McCain's top political adviser, Davis.<ref>https://archive.is/Elc7K</ref>

During the 2008 campaign, the Davis Manafort firm disclosed through its U.S. partner Daniel J. Edelman Inc., that it was working for the political party in Ukraine supporting Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who was backed by Putin. "Davis Manafort International LLC is directed by a foreign political party, the Ukraine Parties of Regions, to consult on the political campaign in Ukraine," the January 2008 Foreign Agent Registration Act filing showed.  The work included developing "a communications campaign to increase Prime Minister Yanukovych's visibility in the U.S. and [[Europe]]," the report added, indicating that Davis and Manafort were being paid a $35,000 a month retainer for the work that began in spring 2007.  Manafort was first questioned by the FBI about his Russian and Ukrainian ties in 2014 while working with the McCain campaign, two years before he became Trump's campaign manager, and agents probed him on how he first came to work for Deripaska through McCain's top political adviser, Davis.<ref>https://archive.is/Elc7K</ref>

 

In 2009, when [[Robert Mueller]] ran the FBI, the bureau asked Oleg Deripaska to spend millions of his own dollars funding an FBI-supervised operation to rescue a retired FBI agent, Robert Levinson, captured in [[Iran]] while working for the CIA in 2007. Mueller wanted a foreigner to fund the operation in order to circumvent U.S. sanctions law that barred spending money in Iran. They arrangement may have also violated the Antideficiency Act, which prohibits the government from accepting voluntary services.

In 2009, when [[Robert Mueller]] ran the FBI, the bureau asked Oleg Deripaska to spend millions of his own dollars funding an FBI-supervised operation to rescue a retired FBI agent, Robert Levinson, captured in [[Iran]] while working for the CIA in 2007. Mueller wanted a foreigner to fund the operation in order to circumvent U.S. sanctions law that barred spending money in Iran. They arrangement may have also violated the Antideficiency Act, which prohibits the government from accepting voluntary services.