But congressional sources say that the offer by Manafort’s lawyer, Reginald Brown, a former White House lawyer under President George W. Bush, was carefully hedged. There was no explicit promise to testify in public or address a broad range of questions that have been raised about Manafort’s business and lobbying work over the years for figures closely associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“This is an interview, not testimony,” Jason Maloni, Manafort’s spokesman, told Yahoo News. A statement by Maloni states only that Manafort was willing to provide information about “recent allegations about Russian interference in the election.” It says nothing about recent
allegations about disguised payments made to Manafort from the political party of the pro-Putin former president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, or
his past work for Oleg Deripaska, a prominent pro-Putin oligarch– both of which have been cited by Democrats as evidence of close ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
Moreover, there were immediate signs that the Senate intelligence committee, which is conducting its own investigation into the Russia probe, was in no rush to take Manafort up on his offer.
“This is a PR stunt,” said one Senate source familiar with the offer made by Manafort’s lawyer. While the panel will at some point want to hear from Manafort, the source added: “I doubt this will be on his terms.”