PALM BEACH, Fla. _ Special counsel Robert Mueller's report devoted 16 pages to the role of Paul Manafort, who served as Trump's campaign manager from late March to Aug. 19, 2016.
More than 30 items in the Manafort section were redacted, most related to grand jury testimony and several to investigative techniques.
Manafort had connections to Russia through his prior work for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and the pro-Russian regime in the Ukraine. The investigation did not establish that Manafort coordinated with the Russian government's election interference efforts.
However, the report does detail Manafort's role with Konstantin Kilimnik, a longtime Manafort employee who the FBI determined had ties with Russian intelligence, according to the report.
During the campaign, Manafort twice met with Kilimnik, according to the report. Manafort provided Kilimnik with updates on the Trump campaign, including internal polling data, and expected Kilimnik to share that information with others in the Ukraine and Deripaska.
During the second meeting, Kilimnik delivered a peace plan proposal from the pro-Russian former Ukraine president, Viktor Yanukovych. Manafort has since acknowledged he was a "backdoor" means for Russian to control eastern Ukraine, according to the report.
Mueller's investigators reviewed emails and text communications and asked Trump about the peace plan in written questions. Trump said he did not remember Manafort communicating to him about positions that the Ukraine or Russian would want the U.S. to support.
On Aug. 21 a jury in Virginia found Manafort guilty on eight counts of tax or bank fraud. On Sept. 14, Manafort entered into a plea bargain and pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to conspiracy, money laundering, tax fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
As part of the plea bargain, Manafort would be allowed to keep his home in the Palm Beach Gardens community of BallenIsles but would forfeit his New York homes, worth an estimated $22 million, to the government as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors.
Manafort has a homestead exemption on the 5,231-square-foot home and has been registered to vote at the address since 2011. He and his wife, Kathleen, paid $1.5 million for a 5,231-square-foot home in 2007.
A judge subsequently threw out the plea bargain, finding that Manafort lied to investigators. However, court documents since then have not indicated that Manafort's BallenIsles home would be seized.
