WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's former campaign manager, a key figure in investigations into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia, has volunteered to be questioned by lawmakers as part of a House probe of the Kremlin's alleged meddling in the 2016 election.
Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., chairman of the House intelligence committee, told reporters Friday that Paul Manafort's counsel contacted the panel Thursday to offer lawmakers the opportunity to interview him. Nunes said he does not know if the interview will take place in a public forum or privately.
"We're not going to get into a neo-McCarthyism era here where we just start bringing in Americans because they were mentioned in a press story," Nunes said. "I'm highly concerned about that. Now, if people want to come in freely, we will do that."
Manafort volunteered to be interviewed by the committee the same week that The Associated Press reported that a decade ago he worked for a Russian billionaire.
Manafort, an international consultant, had pitched a wide-ranging political influence campaign to aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, a close Putin ally. In a proposal obtained by AP, Manfort said his proposal could "greatly benefit the Putin Government."
Manafort eventually signed a $10 million annual contract with Deripaska beginning in 2006, according to interviews with several people familiar with payments to Manafort and business records obtained by the AP.
In a statement to the AP earlier this week, Manafort confirmed that he worked for Deripaska but denied that the work had been to advance Russia's interests.
Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.