A New York Times investigation into Paul Manafort’s time consulting for Ukraine’s pro-Russia political party has revealed that the top adviser to GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump Donald TrumpPoll: Majority of Americans believe Russian hacking didn't sway election Trump facing low expectations, poll finds Why you can't just ignore the CIA report on Russia hacking MORE has ties to a large network that Ukrainian government investigators say was used to loot assets and influence elections. 
 
 Manafort’s involvement in Russian and Ukrainian politics has previously been reported but has come under increasing scrutiny as the U.S. election cycle’s focus rests on the region. 
 
 The New York Times said its Sunday report “offers new details of how [Manafort] mixed politics and business out of public view and benefited from powerful interests now under scrutiny by the new government in Kiev.” 
 
 It created a stir on Twitter when former top Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who was fired after clashing with Manafort over campaign strategy, tweeted a link to the article minutes after it was posted. 
 
 Secret Ledger in Ukraine Lists Cash for Donald Trump’s Campaign Chief https://t.co/7bh7iIHHaY — Corey Lewandowski (@CLewandowski_) August 15, 2016 
 
 Many jumped on board, retweeting the article and noting the awkwardness of the former Trump adviser seemingly calling out his successor. 
 
 If Corey recommends this story, it's probably worth the read. https://t.co/9IlWtNDJWl — Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) August 15, 2016 
 
 Stay tuned for more recommendations from Corey's summer reading list. https://t.co/jsVXFa9WTH — Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) August 15, 2016 
 
 Doesnt really feel like Lewandowski and Manafort parted on the best of terms. https://t.co/B4C5X6yktu — Jennifer Palmieri (@jmpalmieri) August 15, 2016 
 
 former Trump campaign manager openly knifing his successor -> https://t.co/VYlssfDg4f — Alex Altman (@aaltman82) August 15, 2016 
 
 After leaving the Trump campaign, Lewandowski got a job doing commentary on CNN. 
 
 "ok so now even the WSJ is being a bitch at least we still have corey at CNN to do damage contr..."@hunterwalk https://t.co/4B2RgCSdew — darth™ (@darth) August 15, 2016 
 
 The media lies. Unless, of course, it reports something you like. pic.twitter.com/TiduRZIEox — Hunter Schwarz (@hunterschwarz) August 15, 2016 
 
 Fairly remarkable tweet-retweet combo from the one and only Corey Lewandowski. cc: @nytimes pic.twitter.com/526yKMk9jh — Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) August 15, 2016 
 
 when you can't wait to tweet it https://t.co/dw4SIGFNl1 — Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) August 15, 2016 ||||| Donald Trump's campaign is fighting back against a New York Times story published Sunday night that told of handwritten ledgers indicating that Trump's campaign chairman received $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments from a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine. 
 
 The report -- showing even closer ties between Trump's inner circle and Russia than were previously known -- threatens to further damage Trump's campaign on the same day the candidate is scheduled to deliver a major speech on national security. 
 
 Campaign chairman Paul Manafort's consulting work for former Ukraine President Viktor F. Yanukovych was already public. But the Times reported records of cash payments between 2007 to 2012 that were not previously disclosed. It said the ledgers were discovered by an anticorruption bureau as "part of an illegal off-the-books system whose recipients also included election officials." 
 
 The Times report said criminal investigators are separately looking into a network of "offshore shell companies that helped members of Mr. Yanukovych’s inner circle finance their lavish lifestyles." One such transaction, the Times reported, involved an $18-million cable television deal put together by Manafort. The newspaper reported that Manafort is not the target of the probe. 
 
 Trump's supportive comments of Russian President Vladimir Putin had already drawn scrutiny. 
 
 Manafort drew particular scrutiny after the GOP platform, approved last month, eliminated a call to arm Ukraine in its fight with Russia, which seized the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and has supported separatists in eastern Ukraine. ||||| poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201710/1411/1155968404_5629843627001_5629822036001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true Trump campaign aides charged in Mueller's Russia probe Paul Manafort and Rick Gates have been charged with money laundering, while ex-adviser George Papadopoulos cut a plea deal for lying about Russia-linked contacts. 
 
 Special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russian election interference has dramatically escalated, with authorities indicting former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and unsealing a plea deal with a foreign policy adviser who lied about meeting with Russia-linked contacts. 
 
 The moves are the first official public actions by Mueller, and while they do not directly implicate the president, they show how the special counsel is accelerating his sprawling probe into possible collusion between Trump campaign aides and the Kremlin. 
 
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 Authorities on Monday morning unsealed an indictment against Manafort and fellow campaign official Rick Gates that charged the men with money laundering, making false statements and other counts. The two former aides pleaded not guilty in federal court on Monday afternoon. Prosecutors asked that bond be set at $10 million for Manafort and $5 million for Gates but said both may be detained at home until they can post bail. 
 
 Kevin Downing, an attorney for Manafort, called the charges against his client "ridiculous" while also defending the overall Trump campaign. 
 
 "I think you all saw today that President Donald Trump was correct. There is no evidence that Mr. Manafort or the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government," Downing told reporters after the court appearance. 
 
 While both Manafort and Gates had top roles in the Trump campaign, the criminal charges do not discuss any actions clearly related to the presidential race, although the indictment notes that a Ukrainian political party the men worked for had a pro-Russia outlook. 
 
 The charges, however, could be used to apply pressure on the two former officials to more fully cooperate in Mueller’s larger investigation. 
 
 The more revealing details came in a 14-page document showing that George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy adviser to Trump’s campaign, cut a secret plea deal earlier this month for lying to the FBI about the campaign’s outreach to Russia-related officials. 
 
 The document describes a series of conversations and meetings with contacts whom he understood to have connections to the Kremlin about obtaining “dirt” on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and setting up a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. 
 
 Papadopoulos became a foreign policy adviser to Trump’s campaign in March 2016 and went on to cultivate relationships with two individuals apparently connected to Russia, labeled in the document only as “the Professor” and the “Female Russian National.” Papadopoulos also kept campaign officials appraised of his contacts and efforts including, on at least one occasion, at a meeting that Trump himself attended. 
 
 “The Professor told defendant PAPADOPOULOS, as defendant PAPADOPOULOS later described to the FBI, that ‘They [the Russians] have dirt on her’; ‘the Russians had emails of Clinton’; ‘they have thousands of emails.’” 
 
 Papadopoulos was arrested in July. 
 
 The revelations in the plea deal appear to undercut Trump’s repeated claims that the sprawling probe is nothing more than a “witch hunt” and that his campaign had no contacts with Russian officials. 
 
 Trump on Monday morning downplayed the charges against Manafort and Gates in two tweets that came before the Papadopoulos news emerged. "Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren't Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????" 
 
 He added, "....Also, there is NO COLLUSION!” 
 
 White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also sought to downplay the news during the daily press briefing, dismissing Papadopoulos as a minor “campaign volunteer” and echoing the president’s line that Manafort and Gates were indicted for activity that occurred before the campaign. 
 
 “Today’s announcement has nothing to do with the president, nothing to do with the president’s campaign or campaign activity,” Sanders said. 
 
 She dismissed Papadopoulos’ role as “extremely limited” and a “volunteer position” and said the advisory council that he sat on met only once. She said Trump did not remember specifics about the March 2016 meeting he attended with Papadopoulos. 
 
 She added that Trump had “no intention” of firing Mueller and that she expected the investigation to “conclude soon.” 
 
 Manafort and Gates were indicted on 12 counts, according to a 31-page indictment unsealed on Monday morning, including money laundering, operating as unregistered foreign agents of the government of Ukraine, failing to disclose overseas bank accounts and making false statements to federal authorities. 
 
 The indictment alleges that the men set up a series of offshore companies in order to avoid taxes on their overseas lobbying work and defrauded banks in order to win loans. 
 
 The indictment of two figures central to Trump’s 2016 election and the plea deal of a third mark the most significant step yet in an investigation that has dogged Trump’s presidency, even as he and other officials have tried to redirect attention on to Clinton. The implications for Trump’s fledgling policy agenda are potentially catastrophic, as the cloud of Russia allegations only darkens, despite the White House’s insistence that nothing will ultimately come of the federal and congressional probes. 
 
 Mueller was selected to dig into Russia’s role in the 2016 election, including the hacks and release of Democrats’ emails, which intelligence agencies have concluded were designed to boost Trump’s campaign. Mueller, who was named after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May, is also tasked with determining whether any Trump associates colluded with Moscow in that effort. But the special counsel also has wide latitude to pursue any other wrongdoing he finds during his investigation. 
 
 Even before the charges were unsealed on Monday morning, White House officials moved to put distance between Trump and his former campaign chairman. 
 
 “Whatever happens today with the Mueller investigation, we don't even know that it has anything to do with the campaign, what happens today,” presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway told Fox News earlier on Monday morning. 
 
 This follows previous attempts by the White House to create distance between itself and Manafort. Trump said in August that Manafort had served on his campaign for a “very short period of time.” And at a briefing in March, then-press secretary Sean Spicer described Manafort as having “played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time” during the campaign. 
 
 Manafort served on the campaign from March through August 2016, and was campaign chairman from May until he resigned on Aug. 19. 
 
 He was present for events that appear critical to the investigation into possible collusion, including a meeting at Trump Tower with a Kremlin-connected lawyer who promised damaging information on Clinton. That meeting was brokered with the help of Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. 
 
 Manafort and Gates were arraigned Monday by U.S. Magistrate Deborah Robinson. 
 
 After Robinson took the bench, Downing, Manafort’s lawyer, and David Bos, a public defender who stood in to represent Gates entered not guilty pleas on behalf of both defendants. 
 
 Prosecutor Greg Andres spoke for Mueller’s office at the hearing, saying that the government considers both men a flight risk but would not object to their release to home confinement. 
 
 “Our basis for arguing risk of flight has to do with the nature of the charges and the seriousness,” Andres said. “Mr. Manafort’s significant ties abroad, we believe, constitute a risk of flight. ... Mr. Gates as well has significant ties abroad over time.” 
 
 Both men were ordered to turn in their passports and not to apply for any others. Downing said Manafort had surrendered his passport to the FBI on Sunday. 
 
 The hearing stretched to nearly an hour and 15 minutes, including a long break as arrangements were made for Gates’ home detention in Richmond, Virginia. 
 
 Asked by Robinson whether he understood he was required to surrender his passport, Manafort said, “I do.” His responses grew quieter as the magistrate judge detailed other conditions, like daily check-ins by phone with pretrial services. He and Gates may leave their homes only to meet their lawyers, for court dates, for medical emergencies and for religious observances. 
 
 The public gallery was packed for the arraignment, although a row typically reserved for families and friends of the defense was empty. 
 
 Manafort and Gates are due back in court on Thursday for their first hearing before the district court judge assigned to any trial in the case, Amy Berman Jackson, an appointee of President Barack Obama. 
 
 Manafort, a longtime GOP operative, had been under Justice Department investigation since early 2014 — long before Trump announced his presidential campaign — over his ties to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who abandoned office in February 2014 and fled to Russia amid political protests and allegations of government corruption. 
 
 The charges focused on Manafort and Gates’ lobbying work on behalf of the Ukrainian government and Yanukovych from 2006 to 2015. 
 
 The work generated tens of millions of dollars, which was then laundered through “scores of United States and foreign corporations, partnerships, and bank accounts,” according to the indictment. The charges allege both tax avoidance and concealment of their work as foreign agents. Manafort laundered more than $18 million, according to the indictment. 
 
 The scrutiny of Manafort’s record took on new relevance after investigators began looking at Russian interference in the 2016 election. 
 
 Gates joined the Trump campaign in the spring of 2016 along with Manafort, his longtime lobbying partner, to spearhead GOP delegate-counting efforts and avoid an internal party revolt at the Republican National Convention that could have cost Trump the nomination. 
 
 Gates, however, remained in Trump’s chaotic orbit during the general election campaign, working on joint fundraising and massaging internal party dynamics from the Republican National Committee even following Manafort's ouster as head of the campaign in August, after he came under fire amid reports about his lobbying work for a pro-Russia party in Ukraine. 
 
 Gates later connected with Trump confidant Thomas Barrack at an election night party, according to a New York Times report, and was hired to help run the presidential inaugural committee. 
 
 After the election, Gates joined a half-dozen Trump campaign alumni — including digital director Brad Parscale and Nick Ayers, who has since become Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff — at America First Policies, an outside group dedicated to promoting the president’s agenda. 
 
 Gates left the group in March. CNN reported the departure was due to Gates’ ties to Manafort, who faced increasing scrutiny over his ties to Russia as the extent of Moscow’s election-meddling became clear. 
 
 Gates had not been contacted by the special counsel's office, according to one associate with close ties to him, and learned of the looming charges against him in the 24 hours before the news became public. 
 
 In the past week, he had begun looking for new clients and seemed "perfectly normal," according to this person, who spoke to him. He had continued to work for Barrack. 
 
 Gates sent a note early Monday morning to friends and family apologizing for delivering bad news but proclaiming his innocence. In the note, he said he was surprised by the charges, according to a person who reviewed the note. 
 
 Some Republicans took the opportunity on Monday to reaffirm their support for the work of Mueller, with some lawmakers fearing that Trump may move to oust the special counsel. 
 
 “Months ago I & many other Republicans vowed to support Mueller investigation & allow it to work its way through process to get the facts,” tweeted Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.). “In light of today’s indictments we must continue to support and allow the integrity of the process to work.” 
 
 Democrats used the indictments as an opportunity to call for expanded probes into the Russian meddling. 
 
 “Even with an accelerating Special Counsel investigation inside the Justice Department, and investigations inside the Republican Congress, we still need an outside, fully independent investigation to expose Russia’s meddling in our election and the involvement of Trump officials,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. “Defending the integrity of our democracy demands that Congress look forward to counter Russian aggression and prevent future meddling with our elections.” 
 
 Other Democrats sought to link the indictment to the broader question of White House coziness with Russia. 
 
 “Paul Manafort and Rick Gates ran Trump’s campaign and continued to be a part of his inner circle after Election Day,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said in a statement. “This underscores the seriousness of the investigation into Donald Trump’s ties to Russia. It’s time for Republicans to commit to protecting this investigation and preserving the rule of law.” 
 
 The Papadopoulos plea could prove far more damning for the White House in the near term than the indictments. Papadopoulos’ overtures to Russians were first reported by The Washington Post in August, but that report downplayed the extent of his efforts, and the extent to which he kept senior campaign officials informed. 
 
 “It is in the best interest of our client, George Papadopoulos, that we refrain from commenting on George’s case,” Papadopoulos’ defense attorney, Thomas Breen, said in a short statement. “We will have the opportunity to comment on George’s involvement when called upon by the Court at a later date. We look forward to presenting all the facts that led to the events that resulted in this charge.” 
 
 Papadopoulos was informed as early as April 2016 that the Russians had “dirt” on Clinton and “thousands of emails.” In July, Trump would call on Russia to find the emails missing from Clinton’s server, but he said that the comment was meant in jest. 
 
 Josh Dawsey, Michael Crowley, Cristiano Lima, Louis Nelson, Nolan D. McCaskill and Kyle Cheney contributed to this report. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. 
 
 / Updated By Tracy Connor, Kenzi Abou-Sabe and Ken Dilanian 
 
 Special counsel Robert Mueller filed a new indictment on Thursday against former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort and former campaign aide Rick Gates, charging them with new tax and bank fraud crimes and hiking the amount of money they allegedly laundered to more than $30 million. 
 
 The 32-count indictment was filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia, further stepping up the pressure on Manfort and Gates as Mueller's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election gains momentum. 
 
 A previous indictment, charging the pair with money laundering, conspiracy and other offenses stemming from their lobbying work on behalf of pro-Russian political figures in Ukraine was filed in federal court in Washington in October. 
 
 A spokesman for Manafort said in a statement that he is innocent and believes he will be exonerated. 
 
 "The new allegations against Mr. Manafort, once again, have nothing to do with Russia and 2016 election interference/collusion. Mr. Manafort is confident that he will be acquitted and violations of his constitutional rights will be remedied," the statement said. 
 
 Gates just fired his lawyers and a new attorney, Tom Green of Sidley Austin LLP, also did not respond. 
 
 Some of the charges in Virginia mirror the charges in Washington, while others are brand new. Manafort and Gates are now both accused of tax evasion and not reporting money in foreign accounts, and they are also accused of misleading banks on paperwork for millions in real-estate loans obtained in 2016. 
 
 Among the new allegations: 
 
 When Manafort was 90 days behind on paying a $300,000 American Express bill, which affected his credit rating, he lied to Federal Savings Bank and told them Gates had borrowed the card and run up the charges but planned to pay them. 
 
 Gates gave Citizens Bank an outdated insurance report that did not list a $5 million loan that Manafort had from another bank on a property in New York City. 
 
 Gates asked a bookkeeper to juice the revenue for Manafort's company and, when the bookkeeper refused, falsified a profit-and-loss statement to show more than 10 times the actual income and sent it to a bank where he had a loan. 
 
 Manafort submitted a falsified document overstating income by $2 million to a lender, and a conspirator working there replied, "Looks Dr'd. Can someone just do a clean excel doc and pdf to me?" A new version was allegedly submitted. 
 
 In addition, while Manafort was originally indicted on charges he laundered $18 million through offshore bank accounts, the new indictment pushes that sum to $30 million. Gates remains accused of moving $3 million from offshore accounts. 
 
 Paul Manafort arrives for a hearing at U.S. District Court in Washington on Nov. 2, 2017. Aaron P. Bernstein / Reuters 
 
 Mueller explained in a status report that some of the new charges could not be brought in Washington without the approval of the defendants. 
 
 "Prior to instituting this criminal action, the Special Counsel’s Office met with defense counsel to go over the proof underlying the bank fraud charges ... and to provide counsel an opportunity to present any arguments as to why these charges should not be brought," Mueller wrote in a status update on the case. 
 
 Mueller said he was prepared to bring all the charges in Washington if the defendants would waive venue but one of them chose not to. 
 
 Related: Mueller investigating if Manafort promised White House job in return for loans 
 
 President Trump's lawyer, Ty Cobb, had no comment on the Virginia indictment. 
 
 The new indictment is the latest in a series of significant moves by Mueller. Earlier this week, he announced a plea agreement with Russia-connected lawyer Alex van der Zwaan, who admitted to lying to investigators about his contacts with Gates. That came on the heels of an indictment of 13 Russian nationals accused of interfering in the 2016 election. 
 
 CORRECTION (5:30 p.m. ET, Feb. 22, 2018): An earlier version of this article misstated the first name of one of the men charged in the indictment. His name is Rick Gates, not Robert Gates.
– Donald Trump's campaign chief may have closer—and more illegal—ties to pro-Russia interests in Ukraine than he has let on, according to a New York Times report on secret ledgers that anti-corruption investigators have uncovered in Kiev. Investigators say the ledgers list $12.7 million in payments to Paul Manafort from the pro-Russia Party of Regions between 2007 and 2012, when he worked as a consultant for the party. It isn't clear whether Manafort actually received the cash, which investigators say is linked to a network that also bribed election officials. Manafort's lawyer says his client never received the payments and any suspicions are "probably heavily politically tinged." In other coverage: The Hill reports that there doesn't appear to be any love lost between Manafort and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski: Lewandowski, who was fired after clashing with Manafort, tweeted a link to the NYT Ukraine story minutes after it first appeared. The AP reports that Trump plans to deliver a major foreign policy speech in Ohio Monday that will focus on "realism," with policies including destroying ISIS without engaging in "nation-building"—and on new ideological tests for people seeking to enter the US. Politico reports that Trump targeted the media in a series of tweets Sunday, claiming that he would be beating Hillary Clinton by 20% if the "disgusting" media covered him honestly. "I am not only fighting Crooked Hillary, I am fighting the dishonest and corrupt media and her government protection process," he tweeted. "It is not 'freedom of the press' when newspapers and others are allowed to say and write whatever they want even if it is completely false!" he added. The Wall Street Journal editorial board warned Sunday that Trump's "window for a turnaround" is closing and his GOP supporters now face a "moment of truth" before he is written off as a lost cause. "The tragedy is that this is happening in a year when Republicans should win," they write.