![Department of Justice where Manafort registered as a foreign agent. / [Image by SKPY via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2017/6/29/660x290/b_502x220x82/department-of-justice-where-manafort-registered-as-a-foreign-agent-image-by-skpy-via-flickr-cc-by-sa-20_1419385.jpg "Department of Justice where Manafort registered as a foreign agent. / [Image by SKPY via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0]")
It was reported that Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign manager, finally registered as a Foreign Agent on Tuesday. He's been pressured to do so for months after it was discovered last year that he was paid by the Ukrainian government when it was under the control of a pro-Putin political party. Manafort took over as Trump's campaign manager after Corey Lewandowski had been fired during the primary. It was already known when he became his campaign manager that he had been an advisor for the former President of the Ukraine Viktor Yamukovic who fled in 2014 after the uprising.
Manafort's pro-Putin background
Paul Manafort's deputy, Rick Gates, reportedly also registered as a foreign agent with the U.S. Department of Justice. According to his spokesman, Jason Maloni, the political consultant started the registration process in September by the time he had already resigned from the Trump campaign before Kellyanne Conway took over. The details of Manafort's consultation are that he worked for Yanukovych's Party of Regions to advance the goal of economic and political integration between the Ukraine and "the West." Craig Holman who is a lobbyist with the group Public Citizen restated that Mr. Manafort made $17 million for the work he did between 2012 and 2014.
According to WNYC's All Things Considered, Holman said that Manafort should have registered as a foreign agent right after he started his consultation work with the Ukrainian government.
Many Washington insiders have weighed in on the process confirming that this was the case, but it's also been reported that the State Department has not enforced the requirement to register, which was viewed as a vulnerability that Manafort was exploiting. During his time with Donald Trump's campaign, the manager was accused of having a hand in changing the Republican National Committee's support to arm the Ukraine against Russia which he denied.
Trump-Russia investigation
The consultant has also been the focus of an expanding criminal investigation on the White House over President Trump's dealing with Russian officials. It was recently reported that former President Obama was informed by the intelligence community that Russian President Vladimir Putin had given orders to his officials to target Hillary Clinton's campaign, in order to create more favor for Donald Trump.
It was reported that the intelligence community found that Russian hackers stole a trove of emails from the Democratic National Committee which were published on Wikileaks.
The emails showed that Clinton was intentionally sabotaging the efforts of the Sanders campaign in order for her to become the nominee. Over the year, the investigation on the Trump campaign's collusion with Russian officials is now targeting Trump for trying to obstruct those investigations. It's also been reported that the same investigation might include Manafort. Congressional intelligence committees are starting to look at holding hearings for some Trump campaign officials but there is no indication that Paul Manafort is being sought after for a hearing yet.
