District of Columbia (CNN.com)If Donald Trump’s campaign aides like Paul Manafort were contacting Russian officers throughout the campaign, then the President had nothing related to it, asserts former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.
“If anybody crossed a line and gave information to a foreign agent or foreign government or foreign intelligence official, whether that’s Paul Manafort or it’s Rick Gates or anybody else, I hope they’re held accountable,” Lewandowski informed David Axelrod on “The Axe Files,” a podcast in the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN.
He afterwards added: “Any staffer who contacted or potentially contacted a Russian agent or a Russian official has done so on their own accord and not at the direction of the campaign, the President or anybody else in the administration.”
Manafort has denied the so-called contact as “100% not true.”
At times throughout the interview, Lewandowski speculated about preceding reports of Russian links with Manafort, although he added he’s “no idea” whether any of it’s accurate.
“Look, I ‘d no idea if, you know, the narratives which were quite public about dossiers and Paul’s title showing and, you know, other international nations, about receiving cash, I do not understand if they are accurate or if if they are not accurate. I don’t have any notion. I don’t have any reason to consider them, whatsoever,” Lewandowski said.
A CNN commentator, Lewandowski, said Trump never needed Russian intervention in the election, which US intelligence organizations say happened to increase the GOP nominee. However he wouldn’t exclude the view that Manafort had needed such support.
“If Paul Manafort did some thing that he was attempting to motivate the Russians to participate in this election cycle, then he did so on his own accord, with no direction from then-nominee Trump, the campaign or President Trump. I’m sure of this,” Lewandowski said.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/20/politics/corey-lewandowski-paul-manafort-russians/index.html
