While former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort awaits his trial for a number of charges, including conspiracy against the United States, the evidence against him appears to be piling up. In the infamous Steele Dossier, he is alleged to have received “black money” from former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, and according to a new report by The Guardian, that money may have funded a “black ops” campaign against Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election.
As part of a larger propaganda campaign on behalf of Yanukovych, Manafort “placed” positive articles about the ex-Ukranian leader and anti-Hillary Clinton stories in a number of outlets, including the Wall Street Journal. His efforts were part of a multi-million-dollar effort that included various strategies, like “proposing to rewrite Wikipedia entries to smear a key opponent of the then Ukrainian president,” “setting up a fake thinktank in Vienna to disseminate viewpoints supporting Yanukovych,” “a social media blitz ‘aimed at targeted audiences in Europe and the US,'” and “briefing journalists from the rightwing website Breitbart to attack Clinton when she was US secretary of state.”
According to records obtained by The Guardian, Manafort’s pro-Ukraine campaign started in 2011 and lasted until at least 2013. The FBI is also claiming that Manafort was assisted by former Wall Street Journal and Financial Times reporter Alan Friedman, Rick Gates, and Konstantin Kilimni — a Manafort associate believed to have links to Russian military intelligence.
(Via The Guardian)