Former Trump election campaign chief Manafort indicted for Russia links

Paul Manafort, the former campaign manager for Donald Trump’s election campaign, has handed himself in to the FBI after being indicted as part of an investigation into Russian meddling into last year’s election.

As well as Manafort, his business associate Rick Gates has also been instructed to turn himself in for questioning in relation to the investigation.

Manafort was seen arriving at the Washington office of the FBI on Monday morning, having been the subject of an indictment issued on Friday.

He had been in charge of Trump’s campaign last year, before being removed in August as the race headed towards the final weeks. His ties with pro-Moscow forces in Ukraine were cited at the time as the major reason behind his removal.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has been ongoing since May, focused on attempts from Kremlin officials to sway the result of last year’s election.

Trump eventually defeated Hillary Clinton after a campaign dogged by a variety of allegations lobbed by both sides concerning the candidates’ actions.

Intelligence agencies in the US concluded earlier this year that there were attempts from the Russian government to sway the election in favour of Trump.

Mueller was appointed to lead the investigation in the aftermath of Trump’s sacking of FBI director James Comey.

Over the weekend Trump denied allegations of cooperation between his campaign and Kremlin officials.

In social media rant on Sunday, Trump wrote that the allegations were “phony” and constituted a “witch hunt” against his administration, and urged authorities to look at the actions of the Democrats and defeated rival Hillary Clinton.

“There is so much GUILT by Democrats/Clinton, and now the facts are pouring out. DO SOMETHING!” Trump said.