In early January 2017, when the Cuban government was looking for insights into the newly elected President Donald Trump, his former campaign chief, Paul Manafort, traveled to the island to meet with “Castro’s son,” according to a U.S. Senate report.
The recently released Senate Intelligence Committee report on Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election states that Manafort claimed the meeting was arranged by Brad Zackson, the former exclusive broker for the properties of President Trump’s late father, Fred Trump.
Manafort left the Trump campaign in August 2016, mired in scandal over his undisclosed work as a lobbyist for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine. As a result of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, Manafort was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for tax and bank fraud. He is currently serving his sentence under house arrest.
Read more from our news partner the Miami Herald.
