Donald Trump’s former campaign adviser, Paul Manafort, was prevented from boarding a flight to Dubai from Miami because he carried a passport that had been revoked.
Manafort was removed from an Emirates Airline flight without incident on Sunday night before it took off from Miami International Airport, a spokesperson for the Miami-Dade police department confirmed on Wednesday.
Manafort was denied travel by US Customs and Border Protection, and Miami-Dade police had no involvement in the matter, the spokesperson said. A representative for CBP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Manafort led Trump’s presidential campaign for a few months in 2016 before he was replaced amid scrutiny over his business dealings in Ukraine.
In 2018, he was convicted of financial crimes including tax and bank fraud — charges that arose from Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Manafort was later sentenced to a total of seven-and-a-half years in prison. He was granted an early release from a low-security prison in Pennsylvania in May 2020 because of coronavirus concerns. His lawyers had argued that he was at high risk of illness from Covid-19 because of his age and other medical conditions.
Later in 2020, Manafort was among dozens of people Trump pardoned during his final days in office.
Manafort’s passport would have been revoked after his arrest in October 2017. Following his release from prison and presidential pardon, he would not be legally prohibited from travelling outside the US; however, he would need to apply for a new passport.
Source: Financial Times