U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller filed charges on Friday against a political operative with alleged ties to Russian intelligence, bringing his probe on possible collusion by the Trump presidential campaign a step closer to the Kremlin's door.
The indictment, filed in District of Columbia federal court, included new counts against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and the operative, Manafort aide Konstantin Kilimnik, for tampering with witnesses about their lobbying for Ukraine.
It was the third time Mueller had added to charges against Manafort since he was indicted in October. Manafort has pleaded not guilty to a raft of charges: money-laundering, failing to register as a foreign agent, and bank and tax fraud.