As the heat turns up on President Donald Trump’s inner circle over contact with the Kremlin, his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, has put forward a plaintive defense: How was he to know he was talking to Russian spies, if he was?

“ ‘It’s not like these people wear badges that say, ‘I’m a Russian intelligence officer.” ’ ” — Paul Manafort

Manafort, who resigned from Trump’s campaign last August amid a Ukraine-related controversy, was responding to allegations that he’d been in touch with senior Russian officials during the campaign.