Manafort’s Mysterious Israeli Connection: Everything We Know So Far

Paul Manafort, former Trump Campaign Manager

Noa Landau writes in Haaretz, “Paul Manafort is an international political consultant and lobbyist who managed the election campaign of U.S. President Donald Trump in 2016. At the end of last week he signed a plea bargain in which he is expected to serve as a key witness in the affair of the suspicions of Russian involvement in that election in Trump’s favor. In the indictment in which he confessed as part of the plea bargain with U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, there is also mention of Manafort’s lobbying activity for former Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych, who was the pro-Russian candidate in the country’s 2012 election. According to the document, Manafort worked at the time to smear the image of Yanukovych’s rival Yulia Tymoshenko, in order to undermine the support for her by the administration of former U.S. President Barack Obama.”

“In order to achieve that, according to the indictment, Manafort allegedly “privately” coordinated with a senior Israeli official the publication of a declaration that would link Tymoshenko to anti-Semitic elements in Ukraine. He allegedly acted to publish this material in the American press. The goal was to cause a senior official in the Obama administration who supported Tymoshenko at the time to look like a supporter of anti-Semitism. According to current assessments in the U.S. media, including The Washington Post, the senior administration official was then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. By so doing, Manafort believed that the Jewish community in the United States would reject Tymoshenko, who had the support of Western liberals, and press for an end to support for her by Obama and Clinton.” (more…)