Paul Manafort’s Russian protege Konstantin Kilimnik flew in for GOP platform change negotiations

| 5:16 pm EST March 8, 2017
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It turns out we have to add yet another name to the growing list of (alleged) conspirators in the Trump-Russia scandal to rig the 2016 election. Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort’s connections to the Kremlin have long been fleshed out. But now it turns out the FBI has had an eye on his Russian political protege, who flew into the U.S. to play a role in changing the GOP platform to benefit Russia.

Paul Manafort’s protege Konstantin Kilimnik is based in Ukraine, where Manafort once worked to get Kremlin puppet Victor Yanukovich elected. Kilimnik is also believed to be a puppet of the Kremlin. He attracted the attention of the FBI when he flew into the United States in April to meet with Manafort at a time when Manafort was serving as Donald Trump’s campaign chair. But then Kilimnik later flew in again during the summer, and ended up bragging that he had played a role in changing the Republican Party platform from a pro-Ukraine to a pro-Russia stance.

This is notable in that three of Donald Trump’s campaign advisers – Jeff Sessions, Carter Page, and J.D. Gordon – all now admit to having met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last summer. And as reported earlier this week, Page and Gordon are now both publicly acknowledging that it was Trump himself who had been pushing for the platform change which they helped make happen for him.

This now raises the question of what role or relationship Donald Trump and Konstantin Kilimnik may have had with each other. Was Trump present for Kilimnik’s meeting with Manafort in April? Was Trump aware that Kilimnik was apparently in Cleveland and collaborating with his own campaign advisers on the platform change issue during the Republican Convention? Politico first broke the story, and the FBI isn’t yet commenting on where its investigation into Kilimnik ultimately led. Contribute to Palmer Report