Among the interviews flagged by BuzzFeed reporters is evidence that the effort to pin election meddling on Ukraine, rather than Russia as the Mueller report and the U.S. intelligence community found, is as old as the election meddling story itself.
In a 2018 interview with Rick Gates, the aide of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Gates told investigators that Manafort speculated the Ukrainians were behind the 2016 hacks of Democrats’ emails.
“Gates recalled Manafort saying the hack was likely carried out by the Ukrainians, not the Russians, which parroted a narrative Kilimnik often supported,” the 302 reads.