Politics, White-Collar Crime

The Predawn Raid On Paul Manafort's House

Team Trump is on notice.

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(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The Washington Post is reporting that the FBI used one of its favorite tactics — the predawn raid — to seize documents and other materials in former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s possession. They sought materials in connection with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The search warrant was executed on July 26th — the day after Manafort met in a closed-door session with the Senate Intelligence Committee. WaPo reports the search warrant reveals some interesting insights into the thinking of the investigation:

The raid came as Manafort has been voluntarily producing documents to congressional committees investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. The search warrant indicates investigators may have argued to a federal judge they had reason to believe Manafort could not be trusted to turn over all records in response to a grand jury subpoena.

So the investigation can’t trust Manafort to comply with the law? That’s never a good sign.

It should be noted that the raid was executed before Trump pick for FBI director Christopher Wray took office. That may explain why we haven’t seen any angry presidential tweets directed at Wray, or perhaps more damning, statements of “support” of the new director.

Even still, a predawn raid on Manafort can’t bode well for the rest of Team Trump. If they were expecting a gentle touch from Mueller, well, that’s out the window. Muller has demonstrated he’s willing to go to a judge for a warrant if he feels the investigation is being impeded.

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The content of the documents seized is unclear, but they may go beyond election 2016:

Manafort’s allies fear that Mueller hopes to build a case against Manafort unrelated to the 2016 campaign, in hopes that the former campaign operative would provide information against others in Trump’s inner circle in exchange for lessening his own legal exposure.

But it’s more than the carefully curated documents Manafort voluntarily provided to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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