Nunes: Manafort has agreed to be interviewed by House intel committee

Paul Manafort has agreed to be interviewed by the House and Senate Intelligence Committees as part of their investigations into Russia’s meddling in the presidential election.

Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, has come under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks of his lobbying work on behalf of clients aligned with Russia, including an Associated Press report that Manfort worked a decade ago to advance the interests of Vladimir Putin.


House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said it had not yet been decided whether Manafort would appear before his panel for a public hearing or a private interview.

At a press briefing, Nunes also announced the cancelation of a public hearing on Tuesday with members of the Obama administration to discuss Russia's interference in the 2016 election.

Scheduled to testify were former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan and former acting Attorney General Sally Yates.

Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the intelligence panel's top Democrat, blasted the decision. He suggested it might have been done to avoid the kind of bad publicity for the White House that followed a public hearing earlier this week, when FBI Director James Comey confirmed the FBI is investigating possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

“There must have been very strong pushback from the White House about the nature of Monday's hearing,” Schiff said Friday. “It's hard for me to come to any other conclusion about why an agreed-upon hearing would be suddenly canceled.”

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Nunes said Manafort's counsel had contacted the committee and offered his client for an interview. Manafort’s counsel reached out to the Senate Intelligence Committee with the same offer, according to a Senate source.

Representatives for Manafort, who is represented by Reginald Brown with the law firm WilmerHale, emphasized that the appearances would be voluntary interviews, suggesting that it would not be sworn testimony.

“Manafort instructed his representatives to reach out to Committee Staff and offer to provide information voluntarily regarding recent allegations about Russian interference in the election,” said Jason Maloni, a spokesman for Manafort. “As Mr. Manafort has always maintained, he looks forward to meeting with those conducting serious investigations of these issues to discuss the facts.”

Kenneth P. Vogel contributed to this report.