Paul Manafort targeted for blackmail shortly befo... http://www.rawstory.com/2017/02/paul-manafort-...

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Paul Manafort targeted for blackmail shortly before ties forced him out of Trump campaign TRAVIS GETTYS 23 FEB 2017 AT 09:05 ET

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Paul Manafort speaks to NBC News (screen grab)

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aul Manafort was apparently the target of a possible Russian blackmail P attempt when he served as ’s campaign chairman.

The undated messages — which have been hacked and then recently circulated by a hacktivist collective — were sent to an iPhone belonging to Manafort’s daughter in an attempt to reach her father, reported .

One text message appears to have come from a Ukrainian parliamentarian named Serhiy Leshchenko, who claimed to have “bulletproof” evidence of a �nancial arrangement between Manafort and Ukraine’s former pro-Russian president .

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The message also claimed to have strong evidence that Trump met in 2012 with Serhiy Tulub, a close associate of the Ukrainian strongman Yanukovych.

“Considering all the facts and evidence that are in my possession, and before possible decision whether to pass this to [the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine] or FBI I would like to get your opinion on this and maybe your way to work things out that will persuade me to do otherwise,” the message reads.

The message urges Manafort to reply using an email address that reporters have used to communicate with Leschenko, according to Politico.

Manafort, who joined the Trump campaign in March and left in August due to his ties to Yanukovych, con�rmed the authenticity of the texts that had been hacked from his daughter’s phone.

He told Politico that he had received similar texts to his own phone, from the same address, before his daughter had gotten any.

Manafort said the messages began arriving shortly before reported that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine had obtained documents allegedly showing $12.7 million in cash payments intended for Trump’s then-campaign chairman.

He resigned two days later from the Trump campaign, although he denies receiving off-the-books payment from Yanukovych’s party and claims he was never contacted by Ukrainian or American authorities about the documents.

The FBI and �ve other law enforcement and intelligence agencies are investigating possible links between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign.

Manafort, along with Trump campaign advisors Carter Page and Roger Stone, has been identi�ed by the New York Times as the subject of the multiagency investigation.

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US WORLD SCIENCE TECH MEDIA Trump administration of�cials and the president’s business associates to resolve the Russia-Ukraine con�ict.

Manafort told the website he hadn’t responded directly to any of the texts and instead passed them along to his lawyer.

The messages hacked from his daughter’s phone �rst surfaced a couple of weeks ago on the so-called dark web, according to Politico.

Cybersecurity experts are relatively unfamiliar with the hacktivist group that revealed the texts sent to Manafort’s daughter, and the hack appears to be intended as retribution against Trump’s policies.

A former U.S. military intelligence cybersecurity analyst told Politico the group “seems like randos,” rather than associated with any nation-state.

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