A 12 count indictment was unsealed against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates.
The White House is trying to distance itself from these two men, and separately, from a former campaing adviser who plead guilty to lying to the FBI.
Our U.S. correspondent Priscilla Huff reports:
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The 31 page, 12 count indictments against Paul Manafort and Rick Gates are detailed.
Legal experts say,
special counsel Robert Mueller is sending a message
he and his investigators are coming, they are not playing around and they are not bluffing.
But
Kevin Downing, an attorney for Paul Manafort, calls the charges novel and ridiculous.
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Both Paul Manafort and Rick Gates have plead not guilty
Both are under house arrest, with a federal judge setting bail at $10 million for Paul Manafort and $5 million for Rick Gates
numbers which raised eyebrows and underscored how serious the situation is.
But the White House insists,
they believe Special counsel Robert mueller's investigation will be wrapped up soon.
And with Donald Trump posting on social media that there is no collusion
press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders insists,
the Manafort Gates charges are entirely about their separate business working for pro-Russian Ukrainian politicans
and nothing to do with the Trump campaign.
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The guilty plea by George Papadopolous is more complicated for the White House.
The U-S Justice Department detailed how he made friends with an unnamed Russian professor
who put him in touch with an unnamed Russian woman - to discuss the Trump campaign's stated goal of improved relations with Russia and possible meetings between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin
except that he lied to FBI investigators about these contacts.
A photograph from the Trump campaign shows him as a foreign policy adviser
but White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders insists,
George Papadopolous was just an occasional volunteer.
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U-S President Donald Trump keeps insisting, the real problem is Hillary Clinton and the Democrats
focusing on their financing of the Steele Dossier
research that was begun by a Republican donor.
But as much as he says there is no collusion
court filings say that's exactly what the special counsel's office is investigating
And Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have made it clear...
they want Robert Mueller's work to continue.
Priscilla Huff, Washington
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