Manafort: Mueller team member leaking to press

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is accusing a prosecutor on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team of leaking information to journalists.

Manafort alleged in court papers filed Monday night that lead special counsel prosecutor Andrew Weissmann was in touch with four Associated Press reporters last year, and shared details of Mueller’s investigation into Manafort with them. 

At the time of the alleged leaks, Manafort had not yet been indicted, the court filing reads.

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The former Trump campaign chairman claimed in the filing that Weissmann’s alleged briefing with reporters amounted to an unauthorized and illegal leak of classified information. 

He argued that the alleged disclosure deprived him of his ability to have a fair trial. 

“Not only is leaking classified information a felony, but it was also apparently intended to create the false public narrative that Mr. Manafort was colluding with Russian intelligence officials during the Trump presidential campaign,” the filing reads.

Manafort is facing charges including money laundering, bank and tax fraud and failing to register as a foreign agent with the Justice Department as part of Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The charges against Manafort are not directly related to his work on the Trump campaign, and arose from his years-old business dealings in Ukraine. 

A spokesperson for the AP declined to comment on its sources to CNN, saying “it is the long-standing policy of The Associated Press to refrain from discussing our sources.”

–Updated at 7:51 a.m.