CNN is reporting in an exclusive story that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was wiretapped by the US government both before and after the election. The wiretaps concerned a possible connection to Russian involvement in the election. After the wiretaps ended last year due to a lack of evidence, they were eventually restarted. CNN did not have the exact dates that Manafort was surveilled, but said it was when he was meeting with President Donald Trump.
As of now, the evidence of any sort of Russian "encouragement" with the Trump campaign is "not conclusive."
From CNN:
The government snooping continued into early this year, including a period when Manafort was known to talk to President Donald Trump.
Some of the intelligence collected includes communications that sparked concerns among investigators that Manafort had encouraged the Russians to help with the campaign, according to three sources familiar with the investigation. Two of these sources, however, cautioned that the evidence is not conclusive.
Special counsel Robert Mueller's team, which is leading the investigation into Russia's involvement in the election, has been provided details of these communications.
Manafort lives in both Trump Tower in New York City as well as in Alexandria, Virginia. It's not yet clear where the wiretapping took place, but Manafort's residence in Virginia was raided in July by the FBI.
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Back in March, President Trump claimed on Twitter that Trump Tower had been wiretapped by the Obama Administration. At the time, the Justice Department and the FBI denied this claim.
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