The indictments issued by special counsel Robert Mueller are bad news for Team Trump—and, it seems, for some of Washington’s best-connected Democrats.
The indictment of former Trump campaign boss Paul Manafort is likely causing bipartisan headaches. While it alleges that President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman was a tax-dodging money-launderer in cahoots with an authoritarian Ukrainian regime, it also hints at a potential legal mess for one of Washington’s most powerful Democratic dynasties: the Podestas.
The indictment describes a cozy, coordinated relationship between Manafort, Ukraine’s Putin-friendly president Viktor Yanukovych, and two unnamed Washington lobbying firms, beginning in 2012. Lobbying disclosure forms show that the Podesta Group and Mercury LLC, two powerful Washington firms, started working alongside Manafort that year, and with the European Centre for Modern Ukraine –– a group the indictment describes as a cut-out for the Yanukovych government.
The AP reported in August that Manafort directed The Podesta Group and Mercury LLC as part of a “covert influence campaign.”
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