Manafort shared polling data with Russian contact during U.S. presidential campaign, court filing says

Paul Manafort, formercampaign chairfor U.S. President Donald Trump, shared polling data during the 2016 presidential campaign with a business associate accused of having ties to Russian intelligence and prosecutors say he lied to them about it, according to a court filing Tuesday.

The allegation marks the first time prosecutors have accused Trump's chief campaign aide of sharing information related to the election with his Russian contacts. Although the filing does not say whether the polling information was public or what was done with it, it raises the possibility that Russia might have used inside information from Trump's Republican campaign as part of its effort to interfere with the election on Trump's behalf.

The information was accidentally revealed in a defence filing that was meant to be redacted. The Associated Press was able to review the material because it wasn't properly blacked out.

Manafort was among the first Americans charged in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and has been among the central characters in the case, having led Trump'scampaign during the Republican convention.U.S intelligence officials sayRussia was working to sway the election in Trump's favour.

• Read the court filing with uncovered redactionshere

Manafort has pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in Washington and faces sentencing in a separate case in Virginia.

In its court filing on Tuesday, the defence was trying to rebut allegations that Manafort intentionally lied to Mueller's team after agreeing to plead guilty last September. Prosecutors say Manafort breached their plea agreement by lying, but defence lawyers argued that any misstatements were simple mistakes made by a man coping with illness, exhaustion and extensive questioning from investigators.

His lawyers say Manafort suffers from depression and anxiety, has had little contact with his family and, on days when he met with investigators, was awakened before dawn to have hours-long interviews with little time to prepare for the questioning.

"These circumstances weighed heavily on Mr. Manafort's state of mind and on his memory as he was questioned at length," the lawyers wrote.

The filing revealed the first extensive details of what he is accused of having lied about. A spokespersonfor Manafort's defence team declined to comment on the incomplete redactions or on Mueller's allegations, but lawyers later filed a corrected version of the document.

The filing contains new details about Manafort's connection to Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian-Ukrainian business associate who was indicted last year on charges he tampered with potential witnesses. The U.S. believes he is connected to Russian intelligence, but Kilimnik, who is not in U.S. custody, has denied those ties.

The latest allegations further detail how Manafort's work on the campaign intersected with his past international work with Kilimnik.

Emails previously reported by The Associated Press and other news outlets show that in July 2016, Manafort told Kilimnik he was willing to provide "private briefings" about the Trump campaign to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Manafort dangled the briefings as he was mired in a dispute with Deripaska over a multimillion-dollar deal involving a Ukrainian cable company.

Through his spokesperson, Manafort has acknowledged discussing the briefings but said they never occurred.

The defence document acknowledges that Manafort conceded he had met with Kilimnik in Madrid only after being told that they had travelled to the city on the same day. Manafort spokespersonJason Maloni said Tuesday that the Madrid trip mentioned in the filing occurred in January or February 2017 months after Manafort was ousted from the campaign and as Trump was taking office.

Manafort also did not initially disclose having earlier discussed a Ukraine peace plan with Kilimnik on more than one occasion during the 2016 presidential campaign. Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a conflict since 2014 over Russia's annexation of Crimea. The U.S. and European Union have imposed sanctions on Russia over that move as well as the country's support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Manafort's attorneys don't specify the details of the peace plan but they write that Manafort told prosecutors in September that "he would have given the Ukrainian peace plan more thought, had the issue not been raised during the period he was engaged with work related to the presidential campaign.

"Issues and communications related to Ukrainian political events simply were not at the time forefront of Mr. Manafort's mind during the period at issue and it is not surprising at all that Manafort was unable to recall specific details prior to having his recollection refreshed," they said.

They say the same about his recollection of sharing polling data with Kilimnik related to the 2016 campaign.

Prosecutors have also accused Manafort of lying about his contacts with Trump administration officials, which defence lawyers also deny.

The filing says that a May 26, 2018, text message exchange with Manafort involved an unidentified "third-party" who was asking permission to name-drop Manafort if the person met with Trump. The request to use Manafort as an introduction to Trump came while Manafort was under indictment in two federal cases.

The defence team says Mueller's team has indicated that itwill not pursue additional charges against Manafort. His defence lawyers say they don't want a separate hearing before a judge on the lying allegations but will address them instead during the sentencing process.