While former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort reached an agreement to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee this week, he would not agree to the terms provided by the Judiciary Committee. That committee has now responded by issuing a subpoena for Manafort’s appearance.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein last night issued a subpoena to compel Paul Manafort’s presence at a public Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday regarding enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and attempts to influence the U. S. elections.
Manafort registered as a foreign agent in June, but this followed more than a decade of working for and with various foreign governments. Those stints included Manafort’s multi-year effort to secure Ukraine for a pro-Russian party funded out of Moscow, during which he helped foment the disturbances that Putin used as an excuse to invade Crimea. They also included working for dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in the Congo, dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines, and Angolan guerrilla leader Jonas Savimbi. Overall, Manafort has an unmatched record of supporting authoritarian leaders. He also has ties to Cyprus-based banks involved in money laundering, and has been accused of illegal lobbying on multiple occasions.
Grassley and Feinstein issued a statement to support their subpoena.
“While we were willing to accommodate Mr. Manafort’s request to accommodate the committee’s investigation without appearing at Wednesday’s hearing, we were unable to reach an agreement for a voluntary transcribed interview with the Judiciary Committee.”
Manafort wants to do one interview, off camera, for one committee, and gain from that an immunity from being questioned by any other committee of Congress. Which is … nope, not going to happen.