Drew Angerer
New financial records reportedly show that at least $1.2 million in payments listed on a handwritten ledger in Ukraine were received by former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's consulting firm in the U.S., the Associated Press reported on Wednesday. Investigators in Ukraine have called the "Black Ledger," and the listed payments from 2007 and 2009, evidence of off-the-books money sent to Manafort from a pro-Russian political party. Before Manafort worked for Trump, he worked for the pro-Russian political party as an international political consultant. He has publicly questioned the ledger's authenticity in statements through a spokesman, but the evidence of payments bolster the ledger's credibility, the AP reports. Manafort has not denied that the payments occurred, according to the AP, but said in a statement that "any wire transactions received by my company are legitimate payments for political consulting work that was provided. I invoiced my clients and they paid via wire transfer, which I received through a U.S. bank." In a statement, Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni wrote: “Mr. Manafort has always denied that he ever received any cash payments for his work and has consistently maintained that he received all of his payments, for services rendered, through wire transfers conducted through the international banking system. There is absolutely nothing improper with this method of payment and there is no basis to give any credibility to the current Leschenko allegations to the contrary.”