Raw: Paul Manafort surrenders to FBI

(RNN) - A grand jury indicted former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort on 12 charges, including conspiracy against the U.S., money laundering and acting as an unregistered agent for a foreign country.

It was the first charges resulting from the investigation into possible collusion between the president's campaign and the Russian government. Manafort turned himself in at the FBI field office in Washington, DC, around 8:15 a.m. ET, and he is expected to make his first court appearance later in the day.

Rick Gates, a business partner of Manafort, also has been charged. The Associated Press reported he surrendered to authorities as well, and he is expected to be in court Monday.

The indictments had come Friday for criminal charges approved by a federal grand jury, the first to come from the probe into Russian meddling in the presidential election. They remained sealed until Monday. 

President Donald Trump said Monday on Twitter, "Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren't Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????

"....Also, there is NO COLLUSION!" Trump added.

Other legal proceedings related to the Mueller's investigation were revealed Monday, as court documents showed former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to making false statements to FBI agents. The DOJ document said Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser, lied about the timing of a meeting with a professor connected to Russian officials to discuss "dirt" they claimed to have on Hillary Clinton.

Also as part of the guilty plea, Papadopoulos admitted he had tried to set up a meeting between members of the campaign and Russian officials. He met with Russia's ambassador in London and a Russian national he identified as "Putin's niece" while serving as an adviser.

"After several weeks of further communications regarding a potential 'off the record' meeting with Russian officials, on or about Aug. 15, 2016, the campaign supervisor told defendant Papadopoulos that 'I would encourage you' and another foreign policy advisor to the campaign to 'make the trip, if it is feasible,'" the court document stated.

According to the indictment, Manafort and Gates acted as unregistered agents of the pro-Russia Ukraine government, earning tens of millions of dollars for their work. More than $75 million "flowed though" overseas accounts, the indictment stated, and money was laundered through U.S. companies, foreign companies and bank accounts.

Robert Mueller, the former FBI director, has headed the Justice Department's investigation since being appointed as special counsel in May. The investigation has wide latitude in what it can investigate, and the charges in the indictment did not specify ties to any Trump campaign actions.

"The White House has been saying for weeks the special counsel is moving far more quickly and deliberatively than people have been reporting," said the Trump administration in a statement. "The fact that the special counsel is actively performing its duties does not come as a surprise to the White House."

Manafort joined the Trump campaign in March, soon rising to the role of chairman, but resigned in August. His resignation came amid reports of $12 million in undisclosed payments to him from former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

The FBI performed a no-knock raid of Manafort's Alexandria, VA, home in August. 

U.S. investigators also wiretapped Manafort in 2014, before he became a part of Trump's campaign, CNN reported. It was authorized under secret court orders, and it continued until early this year, after president Donald Trump was in the White House.

Sources said the FBI investigation initially centered on work done by Washington consulting firms working for Ukraine's Russia-backed former ruling party. A second warrant was part of FBI efforts to investigate suspected ties between the president's campaign associates and possible Russian operatives.

The special counsel was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation and the president fired FBI Director James Comey. Mueller impaneled a grand jury in August. 

Manafort took part in a meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer in July 2016, during the campaign. Emails released by Donald Trump Jr. showed he believed the meeting would provide damaging information about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, and that the intelligence was coming from the Russian government. 

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded Russia launched a wide-ranging offensive to interfere in the 2016 election, including hacking and propaganda efforts, to hurt Clinton and aid Trump. The president has continued to deny any wrongdoing, calling the investigation a "witch hunt" and a "hoax."

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