Behind the scenes, the firm was scrambling to deflect scrutiny, according to emails quoted in the settlement, which does not name Mr. Craig or another partner on the account, Clifford M. Sloan, who also worked in the Obama administration. Their identities were confirmed by people with knowledge of the arrangement. In one email cited in the settlement, Mr. Sloan warned Mr. Craig that “the Ukraine payment situation” could “put us in a very deep hole in the western press,” if it was revealed by others. “I really think we need to get it out there as soon as we can.”Instead, according to the settlement, Mr. Craig worked with Mr. Manafort to modify the firm’s contract with Ukrainian government retroactively to bill it for $1.1 million, and to backdate the correspondence reflecting the change so it appeared as if it was executed before the Kyiv Post op-ed. A $150,000 donation by Mr. Pinchuk to Mr. Trump’s since-shuttered charitable foundation has drawn scrutiny from Mr. Mueller’s team, and he sought to distance himself from the renewed scrutiny of the report.

Source: New York Times February 05, 2019 19:38 UTC