MSNBC: AP Report Says Manafort Paid Millions by Russian Billionaire to Benefit the Russian Gov’t

EXCERPT:

GEIST: "In new investigative report this morning from the Associated Press claims that from  2006 to at least 2008 Manafort secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin. And proposed an ambitious political strategy to undermine anti-Russian opposition across former Soviet Republics. The report quotes from 2005 memo that Manafort allegedly wrote to business tycoon Oleg Deripaska who became one of the wealthiest men in Putin’s Russia and with who Manafort reportedly signed a 10 million contract in 2006. They AP perports Manafort told Deripaska in 2005 he was pushing policies, quote, 'at the highest levels of the U.S. government, the White House Capitol Hill and the State Department.' According to the documents and according to the report, Manafort wrote in his memo 'We are now of the belief that this model can greatly benefit the Putin Government if employed at the correct levels with the appropriate commitment to success', end quote. The AP says Manafort did not disclose details about foreign lobbying work to the Justice Department during the period the contract was in place."