"Let this weigh on his conscience. If he really thought so, why did not he say this in Moscow, as he visited the Federation Council and the State Duma? Here he was making compliments very generously and spoke about his respect towards our country and people. But as soon as he left... he immediately attempted to smear dirt on the nation that gave him such a warm welcome," the deputy head of the upper house committee for international relations, Vladimir Djabarov, was quoted as saying by RBC.

Senator Djabarov said it's likely that, as a result of the comments, Russian lawmakers would never meet with Senator Kennedy again, but he also downplayed the mafia comparison as unimportant. "His statement does not carry any serious message. Let us just think that it never happened," he said.

Vladimir Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said on Tuesday that the Kremlin views Senator Kennedy's position as a result of stereotypes that persist in the US, as well as the anti-Russia pressure constantly applied by certain parts of the US political establishment.

"We are not wearing pink glasses, we give ourselves a full account that the US political establishment is held hostage by stereotypes and tremendous internal anti-Russian pressure," Peskov told reporters. The official also noted that the US senator's words were difficult to understand without the particular context in which they were used.

Weissmann allegedly improperly disclosed confidential grand jury information and potentially classified information

50,000 pages of new discovery materials were handed to the defense team just 19 days before the scheduled trial

Manafort now sits in solitary confinement in a Virginia jail to ensure his own safety

Manafort's lawyers are requesting a hearing based on Weissmann's alleged improper disclosure of confidential grand jury information, non-public information, false information and potentially classified materials, the court documents state. Weissmann met with AP journalists on April 11 after reporters informed him of their own investigation into Manafort's dealings with Ukrainian officials.

CourthouseNews.com points out that, according to Manafort's attorney, Jay Nanavati, "the government turned over roughly 50,000 pages of new discovery materials to the defense on Friday, 'a mere 19 days before the scheduled trial in this case.'"

According to sources with knowledge of the meeting, the reporters had reached out to Weissmann on a different story earlier in the year and it was during that conversation that the AP team told Weissmann of their investigation into Manafort. However, according to the recent documents, it was Weissmann that called for the meeting. On April 12-one day after the meeting - the AP published the explosive expose on Manafort.

"The meeting raises serious concerns about whether a violation of grand jury secrecy occurred," stated Kevin Downing, Manafort's lawyer, in a motion requesting a hearing. "Based on the FBI's own notes of the meeting, it is beyond question that a hearing is warranted."

At the time of the meeting, Weissmann was head of the Justice Department's fraud division. He was the most senior member of the Justice Department to join the special counsel in May 2016, one month after the meeting with reporters.

Weissmann, who is described by the New York Times as Mueller's "pit bull" is known for using unscrupulous tactics and has been reprimanded by the courts on several occasions for withholding exculpatory evidence in cases.

According to the court documents released Friday, Weissmann directed the AP reporters to "ask the Cypriot Anti-Money Laundering Authority if they had provided the U.S. Department of Treasury with everything to which they had access or only provided what they were legally required to provide."

Downing also noted in the court filing that the AP reporters "inquired about FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) violations" and DOJ attendees confirmed to the reporters that it was a prosecutable offense. More importantly, said Downing, the DOJ guided the reporters who wrote the original story on Manafort and noted that the reporters "appeared to have a good understanding of Manafort's business dealings in Ukraine.

According to the court documents, FBI Supervisory Special Agent Karen Greenaway and Special Agent Jeffery Pfeiffer also attended the April 11 meeting. Greenaway's notes were more detailed than Pfeiffer's and revealed detailed information not yet disclosed.

Details revealed in the court documents:

• The meeting was arranged by Andrew Weissmann
• Andrew Weissmann directed the AP reporters to ask the Cypriot Anti-Money Laundering Authority ("MOKAS") if they had provided the U.S. Department of Treasury with everything to which they had access or only provided what they were legally required to provide

• When the AP reporters inquired about FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) violations, DOJ attendees confirmed that they were prosecutable
• When the AP reporters asked if DOJ would tell them if they were off base or on the wrong track, government attendees confirmed that the AP reporters appeared to have a good understanding of Manafort's business dealings in Ukraine

In January, AP spokeswoman Lauren Easton said, "Associated Press journalists meet with a range of people in the course of reporting stories, and we refrain from discussing relationships with sources. However, the suggestion that AP would voluntarily serve as the source of information for a government agency is categorically untrue."

That meeting with the AP was attended by three different litigating offices. Two employees from the U.S. Justice Department and the other representative was from the U.S. Attorney's office, according to the sources. FBI agents also attended the meeting, as reported in January.

On June 15, a federal judge ordered Manafort to prison for alleged witness tampering while he was out on bail. He is currently at Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, VA, where he has since been in solitary confinement for 23 hours every day. According to his attorneys, the jail determined that if Manafort was to be detained, solitary confinement was the only way to "ensure his security."

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