Manafort developments trigger new ‘collusion’ debate
By Morgan Chalfant - 01/13/19 06:00 AM EST
The revelation that President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort allegedly shared polling data with a Russian suspected of ties to Kremlin intelligence during the 2016 presidential race has triggered fresh debate about “collusion†in Washington.
Democrats on Capitol Hill see the detail as perhaps the starkest signal yet that the Trump campaign may have coordinated with Moscow to interfere in the election.
But their Republican counterparts, along with the president’s attorney, say that’s not the case.
“If sharing polling data with your former partner in political races in the Ukraine is collusion, then I guess it is. I don’t perceive it as collusion,†Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee leading the Russia investigation in the upper chamber, told The Hill.
Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani in an interview with The Hill dismissed the sharing of the polling information.
“Should he have done it? No. But there’s nothing criminal about it,†Giuliani said.
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https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/424986-manafort-developments-trigger-new-collusion-debate
