It Turns Out Anti-Trump 'Black Ledger' Was 'Completely Made Up,' and Mueller Knew - Report
Alex Wong / Getty Images Former special counsel Robert Mueller waits to testify before the House Intelligence Committee about his report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election July 24, 2019, in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)
By Johnathan Jones
Published February 10, 2020 at 2:13pm
According to a new report by investigative journalist John Solomon, a key piece of evidence used to justify Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged links between associates of President Donald Trump and Russian officials has been proven to be a complete fabrication.
Solomon, a Fox News contributor who previously wrote for The Hill and has been working to illuminate alleged corruption in Ukraine by former Vice President Joe Biden and other Democrats, reports that the infamous “black ledger” that was used to investigate and convict former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was completely bogus.
The ledger emerged in Kiev during the 2016 election and purported to show that Manafort had taken cash payments from Russian-backed politicians in Ukraine for his work as a consultant in the region.
Solomon wrote Thursday in his new media venture, Just the News, that according to a written summary of an April 2018 special counsel interview, former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates told federal investigators working for Mueller that the ledger was “completely made up.”
Gates, a former longtime business associate of Manafort’s, cooperated with the former FBI director’s investigation in 2018. In exchange for a reduced sentence, Gates gave investigators information that ultimately helped to convict Manafort of multiple financial and fraud crimes.
However, Gates stated during the investigation that he believed the document was a fraud, according to Solomon.
Following an interview with Gates this past week, Solomon wrote: