Trump aides covertly fought freeing of Ukraine prisonerhttps://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-aides-covertly-fought-freeing-ukraine-prisoner-080324202--election.htmlWASHINGTON (AP) — For more than three years, lobbyist Jim Slattery worked in Washington to secure the release in Ukraine of the imprisoned political rival of the country's then-president. He said the work was sometimes harder than expected.
"I had a sense that there were people working on the other side," he said, "but they were doing it pretty secretively."
Slattery's hunch was right. His unknown opponent: The consulting firm run by Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and his deputy Rick Gates, now the campaign's liaison to the Republican National Committee.
Manafort resigned last week, shortly after disclosures by The Associated Press about his firm's
covert lobbying on behalf of Ukraine's pro-Russian government at the time.................
Manafort and Gates were working for Ukraine's Party of Regions but said they did not represent Ukrainian political interests in the U.S.
But emails and insider accounts obtained by the AP showed Manafort's firm directed a multimillion-dollar lobbying effort between 2012 and 2014 that appeared to undercut public support for imprisoned Yulia Tymoshenko, who was considered a political prisoner by U.S. and European governments.
In the emails, Gates showed familiarity with U.S. lobbying rules and how mandatory disclosure reports could be used to gather intelligence on Slattery. In May 2014, as Slattery was lobbying on Tymoshenko's behalf, Gates directed Mercury LLC to monitor Slattery's federal filings. In particular, Gates wanted to know the address of Slattery's client and any information that could be gathered in the U.S. to complement similar digging in Ukraine.
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Mercury and another Washington lobbying firm, the Podesta Group Inc., were working on behalf of the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine. The AP identified at least $2.2 million in payments to the firms. The nonprofit said it was independent, but documents released last week by anti-corruption investigators in Ukraine have tied the group to Ukrainian political figures.
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The head of Mercury, Vin Weber, said his firm's efforts were not intended to justify Tymoshenko's imprisonment but to make the case that furor over her prosecution had obscured broader issues about Ukraine's relationship with the West.
But a Mercury employee who worked on the project told the AP the firm overtly opposed Tymoshenko's release. This person spoke on condition of anonymity because employees are restricted from speaking publicly under signed, non-disclosure agreements
