On July 26, FBI agents staged a pre-dawn raid in the Alexandria Virginia home of Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for Donald Trump.
What was the purpose of this surprising act and why was Manafort’s home invaded without warning in the early morning hours? A look at the special counsel investigation into the 2016 election reveals some startling information.
The raid, which was conducted without warning, signifies a more aggressive approach by Robert S. Mueller III, who’s team has been increasing the pressure on Manafort in recent weeks, culminating in the dawn raid of his family home. The special counsel team has been examining Manafort’s career, personal finances and more as part of the ongoing Trump-Russia inquiry. Agents had a search warrant, and the raid took place just a day after Manafort met with the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Manafort was also scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee the day after the raid. The search warrant covered a variety of documents, including banking, financial, business and tax documents. According to the Washington Post, agents left the home with plenty of papers and materials, including binders prepared for Manafort’s official testimony to congress.
Using a search warrant, agents appeared the day Manafort was scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and a day after he met voluntarily with Senate Intelligence Committee staff members.
So far, Russia inquiry investigators have used less confrontational and intrusive methods to gather documents, including subpoenas. A subpoena requests specific information and allows the recipient to gather and submit this information. With a warrant, agents are offered access to the person’s home, may search the listed premises and seize anything they find useful. In order to get a search warrant, prosecutors need probable cause that a crime has been committed.
“I think it adds a shock and awe enforcement component to what until now has followed a natural path for a white-collar investigation,” Jacob Frenkel, a former federal prosecutor told the Washington Post. “More so than anything else we’ve seen so far, it really does send a powerful law enforcement message when the search warrant is used. That message is that the special counsel team will use all criminal investigative tools available to advance the investigation as quickly and as comprehensively as possible.”
Manafort, who cooperated with the search, had been providing the Congressional committee investigating the election interference case with documents already. The additional step of search and seizure raid indicates that investigators may believe that Manafort had more information that he was not sharing, or that investigators feared he would not turn over all records.
Whether the raid was truly to gather information or simply to send a message to the former Trump campaign chair is unknown. According to Bloomberg news, the materials collected contained information that had already been provided to Congress; raids of this nature are usually used for serious criminal investigations and uncooperative targets.
According to Richard Blumenthal Democratic Senator from Connecticut and a member of the Judiciary Committee, the search was “a significant and even stunning development,” and that this type of raid was usually reserved for “the most serious criminal investigations dealing with uncooperative or untrusted potential targets.”
The raid appears to be part of an ongoing effort to ramp up pressure on Manafort; so far, the investigation led by Mueller has covered not only the Russia probe, but unrelated areas in Manafort’s personal and professional life as well.
Before becoming a key player in the Trump 2016 election campaign, Manafort worked with political parties in the Ukraine and invested in real estate ventures in the USA. Investigators have been probing both of these activities and his personal and business finances as well. The investigation into Russia’s possible attempts to influence the election is ongoing and is currently focused on Paul Manafort’s finances, documents and possible ties to the Ukraine and Russia.
According to CNBC, there is no information about what, if any, additional details were obtained by that alarming early morning raid. Whether Mueller was truly searching for additional details or simply applying pressure remains to be seen.
~ Liberty Planet
