Former Trump adviser Paul Manafort was removed from a plane at Miami International Airport before it took off for Dubai because he was travelling on a revoked passport, officials said on Wednesday.
Miami-Dade police detective Alvaro Zabaleta confirmed that Manafort had been removed from the Emirates Airline flight without incident on Sunday night but directed further questions to US Customs and Border Protection.
A lawyer who has represented Manafort did not immediately return a call and email seeking comment on Wednesday.
Mr Manafort led former President Donald Trump’s campaign for several months during the 2016 presidential race but was ousted in August of that year after revelations about his business dealings in Ukraine.
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He was later on several financial crimes as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. He was convicted by a jury in August 2018 and later pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington.
In May 2020, Manafort was released from a low-security prison where he was serving a more than seven-year federal sentence amid concerns about the coronavirus. Although he had not served long enough to be eligible to be freed under the guidelines, a source said the Bureau of Prisons had released him because of his age and poor health.
Mr Trump pardoned Manafort in December 2020.
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