During a visit to the Ukrainian Embassy for an unrelated meeting, Alexandra Chalupa shares her ongoing concerns of Paul Manafort’s ties to Donald Trump with Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Valeriy Chaly, and one of his top aides, Oksana Shulyar.
According to someone briefed on the meeting, Chaly said that Manafort was very much on his radar, but that he wasn’t particularly concerned about the operative’s ties to Trump since he didn’t believe Trump stood much of a chance of winning the GOP nomination, let alone the presidency.
Politico
Donald Trump adds Paul Manafort to his campaign team four days later.
Background
In 2014, Alexandra Chalupa was researching the Ukrainian crisis for a client when she learned about Paul Manafort and his involvement in Ukraine, including ties to the Russian oligarchs that funded his boss’s political takeover.
In 2015, she began to notice similarities between what happened in Ukraine and the Trump campaign. In her free time, she started researching Trump’s ties to Russia. While she wasn’t sharing her research or her contacts with the DNC, she occasionally mentioned things that felt concerning.
Two months before Paul Manafort joined the Trump campaign, she told the DNC that his involvement in the campaign would prove her suspicions of Russian involvement.
External Sources
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/ukraine-sabotage-trump-backfire-233446
Photo: Gage Skidmore
