Special Counsel Robert Mueller has kept an extremely tight ship when it comes to leaks from his people. Yet, his office just confirmed that the raid before sunlight on former Trump Campaign chair, Paul Manafort, was looking for something very special.
On July 26, 2017, Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort met with a group of Russians promising dirt on Hillary Clinton. Later Mueller had Manafort arrested, indicted, and placed on house arrest wearing two of police’s ankle bracelets tying him there.
Manafort’s attorneys filed a motion to suppress all the evidence from that raid. The information was in response to that motion, and it showed that Mueller wanted “11 specific categories of records.”
The special counsel was also looking for “any and all financial records, any and all federal and state tax documents,” and “evidence indicating Manafort’s state of mind as it relates to the crimes under investigation.”
USA Today‘s investigative reporter, Brad Heath tweeted:
‘Our
@big_cases bot has the filing.’
Heath tweeted that the raid did, indeed, seek those records:
‘Mueller’s office has confirmed in a new court filing that the FBI raid of ex-Trump aide Paul Manafort’s home sought records off the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting.’
Heath continued:
‘The warrant for Manafort’s place swept pretty broadly:’
Heath tweeted about the FBI’s search of Manafort’s iPod:
‘Mueller’s office defends the FBI’s search of Paul Manafort’s iPod (though “the government will not be introducing any evidence obtained from those devices at the trial”).’
The reporter said the search also included information about Manafort’s “co-defendant, Rick Gates:”
‘Filing also includes a list of materials Mueller’s office has turned over to Manafort’s lawyers, including a July 2014 interview of his co-defendant, Rick Gates.’
Then, BuzzFeedNews reporter, Zoe Tillman added:
‘One more just in: Special counsel office’s opposition to Manafort’s motion to suppress evidence seized during the search of his home in Virginia: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4444994/4-23-18-US-Oppo-Manafort-Motion-to-Suppress.pdf …‘
Tillman tweeted that Mueller’s team used a “filter team:”
‘Mueller’s office defended its handling of materials taken from Manafort’s home, saying, among other things, that they used ” a filter team to protect attorney-client and other privileges” https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4444994/4-23-18-US-Oppo-Manafort-Motion-to-Suppress.pdf …’
Then, Heath tweeted that there was another “relevant bit:”
‘Here’s the other relevant bit: Mueller’s office says all of the categories of information listed in the warrant, including info on the Trump Tower meeting, “must relate to the criminal offenses listed alongside those categories…This raises a couple obvious questions: Which offense did Mueller’s office say would justify a search for records on the Trump Tower meeting? And what was the showing of probable cause? (The warrant and affidavit establishing these things remain sealed.)’
Featured Image via TIME writer, Preet Bahara’s Twitter Page.
