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| White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks during the daily press briefing, Monday, Oct. 30, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) |
During a Monday press briefing, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters the charges against Manafort and his partner Rick Gates are not campaign related.
She also said the indictments will not distract from the president’s legislative agenda.
When asked about the guilty plea of former campaign advisor George Papadopoulos, Sanders claimed he was a volunteer who was repeatedly pushed back on his ideas by top Trump officials.
Sanders then said the only Russian collusion during the election happened among the Democrats.
“Today’s announcement has nothing to do with the president, has nothing to do with the president’s campaign or campaign activity,” announched Huckabee. “The real collusion scandal as we’ve said several times before has everything to do with the Clinton campaign, Fusion GPS, and Russia…there’s clear evidence of the Clinton campaign colluding with Russian intelligence to spread disinformation and smear the president and influence the election.”
Manafort and Gates have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
A judge set bond at $10 million for Manafort, and a bond at five million dollars for Gates.
Both sides also agreed to home detention.
This comes nearly a week after ties between Manafort and the Podesta Group surfaced, showing he was the intermediary between Hillary Clinton and Russia in the controversial Uranium One deal.
Meanwhle, Democrat lobbyist Tony Podesta resigned from his position at his firm after being named in Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Podesta stepped down during a meeting Monday, and will soon be alerting clients of his departure.
Sources say the move has been in the works for months.
However, his departure comes amid allegations that Manafort helped the Podesta Group and the Clinton Foundation establish pay-to-play ties with Russia.
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