Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort believes the investigations into his actions are "entirely politically motivated," his spokesman said Thursday.
In an interview with Joshua Johnson of NPR, Jason Maloni referenced a Tuesday report by CNN that U.S. investigators wiretapped Manafort under an order from the FISA court before and after last year's election.
The CNN report "is all you need to know about this case," Maloni said. "When CNN's story broke about the revelations of not one but two FISA warrants, that made this crystal clear a political story.
"Paul's feeling is this is entirely politically motivated," he said.
Maloni's comments were also reported by Politico.
In a statement released by Maloni on Wednesday, Manafort called for the Justice Department's inspector general to investigate the FISA warrant leaks to learn the motivations behind the wiretaps.
He also urged Justice officials to release any transcripts it had of his communications with foreign subjects.
"Why it's coming to light now is for someone to investigate," Maloni told Johnson Thursday. "Paul Manafort earlier in the week begged, said, 'Please, somebody conduct an investigation.'
"First of all, who revealed the fact that one of the most classified and valuable tools at our intelligence community’s disposal, the FISA court, why was this violated, and who’s behind it and why?" Maloni asked. "Those are questions that need to be answered."
In July, FBI agents raided Manafort's home — and Maloni slammed the move Thursday as a tactic "reserved for violent offenders" that should shock the American people.
Maloni told Johnson that Manafort will no longer cooperate with the investigations by the Congress and the FBI.
"He has cooperated from the beginning, volunteering to come to Congress, revealing the June 9 meeting with Donald Trump Jr., providing reams of documents for the investigation — until he got a very, very clear signal he shouldn't cooperate, when federal agents woke him in the morning on the day he was expected to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, knocked on his bedroom door and roused him and his wife up from their sleep," Maloni told Johnson.
"People are not, you know, necessarily wearing suits in the morning," he added. "They were frisked, they were manhandled — and this is shocking.
"The signals that are being clearly sent from various investigators do not bode well for someone who has tried to cooperate and volunteer information in the past.
"Tell me why he should," Maloni said. "Tell me how it benefits him, that he's provided as much clarity as he can to investigate what did Russia do to undermine our 2016 election.
"Because we're still not any closer to that answer," he added. "That is the question."
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