AP Exclusive: Trump campaign chief linked to Putin interests

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin a decade ago and proposed an ambitious political strategy to undermine anti-Russian opposition across former Soviet republics, The Associated Press has learned.

The White House on Wednesday acknowledged the AP's revelations had "started to catch a lot of buzz" but brushed them aside, though some members of Congress expressed alarm.

Manafort proposed in a confidential strategy plan as early as June 2005 that he would influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and the former Soviet republics to benefit the Putin government, even as U.S.-Russia relations under Republican President George W. Bush.

I was going to post this separately, but it probably belongs in this thread.

Dan Rather
3 hrs ·
"The plot thickens. The drum beats increase. The pressure mounts. And a question I never thought I would ever hear asked again with such urgency and stakes looms large: "What did the President know, and when did he know it?"
The latest reporting out of CNN suggests the FBI has evidence that "associates of President Donald Trump communicated with suspected Russian operatives to possibly coordinate the release of information damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign." It is impossible to overstate the seriousness of this allegation - Americans associated with Donald Trump illegally colluding with a foreign power.
Once again, all the caveats must hold. This isn't proven. Allegations and suspicions are not an indictment. But with each turn of this story, the level of seriousness deepens. Add to this some unorthodox actions by the Republican head of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, briefing President Trump on details of investigations, and we are long past having any excuse not to launch an open bipartisan investigation and a special prosecutor.
I have seen a lot in my lifetime. But I have never seen anything like this. No one has. The cauldron of chaos and confusion which engulfs President Trump in his early days in office is simply unprecedented.
Who knows what tomorrow will bring? The vote on the health care bill is shaping up to be its own mess. Can President Trump arm twist his own party members to deliver victory in the House? What last minute concessions will have to be made to bring along conservatives? Should we really be rushing a bill on heath care with major changes hammered out for politics instead of policy? What will this mean for the Senate?
The White House is under siege. The President's poll numbers drop to record lows. The fires of scandal are encroaching. Around and around it goes, where it stops nobody knows. Dangerous times".

And the Trump campaign's response is that Manafort didn't have a significant role in the campaign. They're actually saying that Trump's CAMPAIGN MANAGER didn't have a big role in the campaign. It would be funny if this wasn't so scary.