Trump Campaign Manager Manafort to Register as Foreign Agent

According to a new report from The New York Times, the same day Manafort stepped down as campaign chairman, he was hard at work "creating a shell company ... that soon received $13 million in loans from two businesses with ties to Mr. Trump, including one that partners with a Ukrainian-born billionaire and another led by a Trump economic adviser". He is expected to take the action to identify him as an agent of Ukraine as an "appropriate step" in response to "guidance" from government officials.

But Trump's puzzling affection for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin - and Putin's subsequent efforts to intervene in the USA presidential campaign on Trump's behalf - cast Manafort's work in a somewhat different light. He will register with the Justice Department as a foreign agent for his Ukraine work.

Also this week, the White House has faced questions about the influence of Carter Page, who advised the campaign on foreign policy.

On Wednesday, Maloni told the AP that Manafort intends to register with the Justice Department as a foreign agent for work he did on behalf of political interests in Ukraine.

Manafort's firm: He had a lobbying firm called Davis Manafort located in Kiev, Ukraine, for many years where he acted as a consultant for the country's pro-Russian ruling political party at the time, when Viktor Yanukovych was president. The lobbying firm, run by the brother of Hillary Clinton presidential campaign chairman John Podesta, reported in its filing that it was paid more than $1.2 million for its efforts.

Paul Manafort of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's staff listens during a round table discussion on security at Trump Tower in the Manhattan borough of NY, U.S., August 17, 2016. The lobbying occurred in Washington from 2012 to 2014.

The AP identified in the records two payments received by Manafort that aligned with the ledger: one for $750,000 that a Ukrainian lawmaker said last month should be investigated by us authorities. It also underscores the legal pressure on Manafort, who faces FBI, Justice Department and Treasury Department investigations, sources have told McClatchy. But what does registering as a foreign agent actually mean, and what does it suggest for Manafort and the administration going forward?

"Since before the 2016 election, Mr. Manafort has been in discussions with federal authorities about the advisability of registering under [Foreign Agents Registration Act] for some of his past political work", spokesman Jason Maloni said in a statement.

Both Manafort and Gates previously claimed that they did not do work that needed them to register as foreign agents, and Manafort said in an August statement that he had not performed any work for the Ukrainian or Russian governments. The firms in question are the Podesta Group and Mercury LLC. "The real facts", said Maloni, "are that Mr. Manafort did very visible consulting work for the Party of Regions and was paid by wire transfer into his accounts".

AP reported that USA prosecutors have been looking into Manafort's work for years as part of an effort to recover Ukrainian assets stolen after Yanukovych fled the country.