Paul Manafort’s three passports show two visits to England in 2010 and 2012, aiding his denial of a Guardian newspaper story that claimed he met secretly with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in 2013, 2015 and 2016 in London.
A review of Manafort’s passports since 2008 shows he entered Heathrow Airport on two occasions. There are no other stamps for arriving in Great Britain.
It is conceivable that Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, could have entered from a European country and not received a stamp. But a Manafort representative told The Washington Times that Manafort has only made those two visits to England since 2008. The source said a libel suit against The Guardian is under discussion.
Two of his passports were entered as evidence at his tax evasion trial. The Times acquired a copy of his third passport on Thursday.
The liberal Guardian newspaper on Tuesday claimed that Manafort in 2013, 2015 and the spring of 2016 met with Mr. Assange, WikiLeaks chief, in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. The story sited “sources.”
WikiLeaks immediately denounced The Guardian story as a hoax and said it planned to raise money to file a libel suit. Manafort, who was convicted of multiple charges including tax evasion and is in jail, also emphatically denied the story.
WikiLeaks released streams of stolen emails from the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton campaign chief John Podesta in July, October and November during the 2016 presidential election won by Donald Trump. U.S. intelligence concluded they came from Russian government hackers; Mr. Assange denied this.
Special counsel Robert Mueller said in an Oct. 31, 2017 filing, after Manafort was indicted on fraud charges, that the political operative and real estate developer maintained three passports and was a flight risk. Manafort was ultimately convicted by a jury in Alexandria, Virginia. He pled guilty to fraud charges in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., in September.
His attorney explained the passports this way: One was lost, one was used to submit to foreign embassies for visas, and one was used as a backup. Manafort later found the third passport.
The Mueller filing said that Manafort, in the last year, “traveled to Dubai, Cancun, Panama City, Havana, Shanghai, Madrid, Tokyo, and Grand Cayman Island.”
It doesn’t mention London.
Manafort was a frequently flyer with clients in Europe, South American and Asia.
In what is sure to enliven conspiracy theorists, one of his business clients was in Ecuador, where he visited in 2017. He traveled with an email account under a fake name. His friends said he covered his identify on emails for security reasons. He traveled under his own passport.
Mr. Assange was granted refuge by Ecuador six years ago. He had faced assault charges in Sweden but now fears extradition to the U.S.
Manafort responded to The Guardian story: “This story is totally false and deliberately libelous. I have never met Julian Assange or anyone connected to him. I have never been contacted by anyone connected to WikiLeaks, either directly or indirectly. I have never reached out to Assange or WikiLeaks on any matter. We are considering all legal options against the Guardian who proceeded with this story even after being notified by my representatives that it was false.”
Said WikiLeaks on Twitter, “Remember this day when the Guardian permitted a serial fabricator to totally destroy the paper’s reputation. @WikiLeaks is willing to bet the Guardian a million dollars and its editor’s head that Manafort never met Assange.”
The Guardian story was written by Luke Harding, who promotes the Trump-Russian collusion allegation brought by ex-British spy Christopher Steele. Mr. Harding relied on Mr. Steele’s information for a book.
Paid by Mrs. Clinton’s campaign and Democratic National Committee, Mr. Steele wrote a series of memos in 2016 based on an array of unnamed Kremlin sources. He brought the dossier to the United States with the aim of destroying the Trump presidency, according to an FBI document.
None of Mr. Steele’s core collusion charges against Trump associates, such as Manafort, has been proven publicly.
For example, Mr. Steele said that Manafort worked with campaign volunteer Carter Page to coordinate Russia’s computer hacking.
But both men say they have never spoken, and there is no public evidence they did what Mr. Steele alleged.
Mr. Steele also accused former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen of secretly visiting Prague in August 2016 to make payoffs to Russian President Vladimir Putin aides to coverup up the supposed Trump-Russia conspiracy.
After BuzzFeed news site published the dossier in January 2017, Mr. Cohen showed his passport to selected reporters to prove he didn’t go to Prague.
Fusion GPS, the investigative firm that handled Mr. Steele, said Mr. Cohen’s passport showing wasn’t good enough.
Co-founder Glenn R. Simpson testified to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that Mr. Cohen should turn over more personal records. He also suggested Mr. Cohen could have traveled to Prague by way of a yacht and Russian plane.
• Rowan Scarborough can be reached at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.