Less than two weeks before Donald Trump accepted the Republican nomination, his campaign chairman Paul Manafort sent an email offering "private briefings" on the race to Kremlin-tied Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska (shaking hands, left), according to people familiar with Manafort's emails. There is no evidence that anything came of the offer. But Trump-Russia investigators believe Manafort's outreach created a potential opening for Russians at the highest level of a U.S. presidential campaign.
From the Washington Post:
The notes appear to be written in deliberately vague terms, with Manafort and his longtime employee, Konstantin Kilimnik, never explicitly mentioning Deripaska by name . But investigators believe that key passages refer to Deripaska, who is referenced in some places by his initials, “OVD,” according to people familiar with the emails. One email uses “black caviar,” a Russian delicacy, in what investigators believe is a veiled reference to payments Manafort hoped to receive from former clients.
In one April exchange days after Trump named Manafort as a campaign strategist, Manafort referred to his positive press and growing reputation and asked, “How do we use to get whole?”
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