a statement. "While he and others involved with this matter may have acted criminally and tried to hide it, we have acted appropriately, following our counsel's advice from the start."

Prosecutors allege that Manafort's lobbying in the US on behalf of Ukraine went even further in 2013. He allegedly orchestrated a group of former European politicians, called the "Hapsburg group," to act as independent voices, then paid them to push positions favorable to Ukraine.

Manafort used offshore accounts to pay the former politicians 2 million euros, a new indictment against Manafort said Friday. They lobbied members of Congress and members of the executive branch in the US around 2013.

Manafort also allegedly used $4 million from an offshore account to fund a report on the trial of a political opponent jailedAccording to one of the officials, the meeting ended amicably, with both men agreeing to work together to advance Trump's agenda.

Kushner and Bannon had increasingly clashed in recent weeks over the policy direction of the White House, including issues such as trade, taxes and immigration. Kushner, the president's son-in-law, is considered principal among a group of White House aides with more moderate political leanings.

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Allies of Bannon's inside and outside the White House derisively refer to Kushner, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn and deputy national security adviser Dina Powell and others as the “liberal Democrat” wing of Trump's White House.

Kushner and other aides worried that Bannon's fixation on “deconstructing” government had not served Trump well in the first months of his presidency.

As the drama spilled out into the