Mueller report: Manafort mentioned Michigan to Russians
Todd SpanglerWASHINGTON — Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort apparently told an associate with suspected ties to Russian intelligence that Michigan was a battleground state in the 2016 election, special counsel Robert Mueller's report said Thursday.
Michigan was also a target for fake ads on Facebook and other social media as part of Russian interference into the 2016 election, a fact previously reported.
On page 140 of the 400-page report, which was released in redacted form Thursday, Mueller says that Manafort met in New York with Konstantin Kilimnik, a business associate of Manafort's whom the FBI suspected of being linked to Russian intelligence.
During the meeting — which was reportedly mostly about a possible plan for how to handle the situation in the Ukraine should Trump win — Manafort apparently described the campaign's strategy for winning in the Midwest, including Michigan.
The meeting also "encompassed the Campaign's messaging and its internal polling data," the report said. It cited deputy campaign manager Rick Gates as the source for the information that Manafort referred to Michigan, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Wisconsin as "battleground" states.
However, there was little doubt even at the time that Trump expected to make a play for the industrial Midwest. The report also did not expressly link that conversation between Kilimnik and Manafort and any Facebook ads run in Michigan or elsewhere by Russian operatives.
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Ultimately, even though Justice Department officials concluded that Russia interfered with the 2016 election by hacking into Democratic computers and pushing divisive fake ads through social media — including those in Michigan — Mueller said the investigation "did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities."
Mueller remained silent, however, on whether the president's team attempted to obstruct the investigation — though Attorney General William Barr has said he does not believe there is evidence of obstruction after reading the report.
Manafort has been sentenced to years in prison on other, unrelated charges.
Contact Todd Spangler attspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler. Read more onMichigan politics and sign up for ourelections newsletter.