FILE - In this May 23, 2018, photo, Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, leaves the Federal District Court after a hearing in Washington. Manafort was removed from a plane at Miami International Airport before it took off for Dubai because he carried a revoked passport. Miami-Dade police confirmed Wednesday, March 23, 2022, that Manafort was removed from the Emirates Airline flight without incident on Sunday night. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
MIAMI (AP) — Former Trump adviser Paul Manafort was removed from a plane at Miami International Airport before it took off for Dubai because he carried a revoked passport, officials said Wednesday.
Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta confirmed that Manafort was removed from the Emirates Airline flight without incident Sunday night but directed further questions to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That agency did not immediately respond to an email Wednesday seeking comment.
A lawyer who has represented Manafort did not immediately return a call and email seeking comment Wednesday.
Manafort, 72, led former President Donald Trump’s campaign for several months during the 2016 presidential race but was ousted in August of that year after revelations about his business dealings in Ukraine.
He was later indicted on a broad array of financial crimes as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. He was convicted by a jury in August 2018 and later pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington.
In May 2020, Manafort was released from a low-security prison where he was serving a more than seven-year federal sentence amid concerns about the coronavirus. Although Manafort had not served long enough to be eligible for release under the guidelines, the Bureau of Prisons decided to free him because of his age and health vulnerabilities , a person familiar with the matter has said. Trump pardoned Manafort in December 2020.
Manafort’s removal was first reported by the website Knewz.com.
The name of U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been corrected in this story.
umlaut on March 23rd, 2022 at 17:23 UTC »
"Trump aide" is very disingenuous. He is a uniquely special piece of human shit who did work for powerful people that are deeply connected to our current world crisis.
Manafort was a long-time lobbyist, founding the firm Black, Manafort & Stone, along with Charles Black and the infamous Roger Stone .
Among other work, Manafort was paid by the Pakistan government to create a disinformation campaign to cover up terrorism and sow disinformation in the American public.
Manafort worked for Oleg Deripaska, who was once the richest man in Russia and a Putin supporter. His role was to lobby for Russian interests and the acquisition of assets in Ukraine.
Manafort worked for Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions, a pro-Russian sock-puppet political party. Their eventual loss of power (and Manafort's further meddling and political strategizing in Ukraine) is one part of the lead-up to the current Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Manafort was Trump's campaign manager. He had already been under FBI investigation for years prior to the 2016 campaign and the questions about Russian election interference stemmed from Manafort's connections.
Manafort was convicted of Conspiracy to Defraud the United States and witness tampering, which he was later pardoned for by Trump.
Entropy_5 on March 23rd, 2022 at 15:06 UTC »
If anyone is curious just what a gigantic pile of human waste Paul Manafort is, the "Behind the Bastards" did a few episodes on him.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/behind-the-bastards/id1373812661?i=1000416931708
Spoiler alert, he's waaaaaaay worse than you probably think.
whichwitch9 on March 23rd, 2022 at 15:01 UTC »
Dude. He definitely knows he wasn't allowed to leave the country. Crazy he even got on the plane in the first place