Greg Craig

Greg Craig

Gregory Bestor Craig served as White House counsel under Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

In 2012, Greg Craig was hired by Paul Manafort to write a report about the trial of the pro-Ukraine former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko for the pro-Russia Viktor Yanukovych. He then brought the report to the home of a New York Times reporter who reported about it in an article titled "Failings Found in Trial of Ukrainian Ex-Premier" published on December 12, 2012.

Investigation against Greg Craig

Excerpt from NPR in 2019 after Greg Craig was found "not guilty" after the Justice Department said he "lied to the department about his work for Ukraine to avoid registering under FARA as a foreign agent.":

...The case against Craig, a top Democratic attorney who worked for President Bill Clinton and later served as President Barack Obama's White House counsel, spun out of former special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

"The verdict deals a setback to the Justice Department's efforts to aggressively enforce the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The law, which for years was loosely enforced, requires those who are doing political or public relations work on behalf of a foreign entity to register.

The prosecution of Craig was one of several FARA-related cases that emerged from Mueller's inquiry.

After hearing some two weeks of testimony, including from Craig himself, the jury found him not guilty of engaging in a scheme to conceal information from the Justice Department's FARA unit about work he did for Ukraine's government back in 2012.

Craig and his then-law firm, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, prepared a report for the Ukrainian government led by Viktor Yanukovych about the trial of his rival, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Craig and Skadden were commissioned by Paul Manafort, who was working for Yanukovych at the time. Manafort, who earned millions from his Ukraine work, went on to become Donald Trump's campaign adviser but was later convicted in a bank and tax fraud trial prosecuted by Mueller's team.

"Prosecutors alleged that Craig lied to the department about his work for Ukraine to avoid registering under FARA as a foreign agent. Craig was not, in fact, charged with failing to register, but rather with withholding information that he knew he should have provided — and providing other information that he knew was false.

The case largely revolved around Craig's alleged role in the media rollout plan for the Tymoshenko report when it was released in December 2012.

Craig contacted New York Times reporter David Sanger about the report and then hand-delivered a copy of it to Sanger's house two days before the document was released publicly.

The government alleged that Craig did so at Ukraine's behest as part of the public relations effort to shape the international perceptions of the report — and by extension, Tymoshenko's trial.

"Yanukovych was eager to patch up the reputation in the West of a prosecution that had been faulted as an abuse of power targeting one of his political rivals...

Working with Manafort, Gates, Stone

In 2019, Greg Craig was listed as a "former associate on Ukraine matters" with Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. Excerpt from CNN article:

"Gates, a longtime deputy to 2016 Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort who shared searing details about Trump’s efforts in 2016 with special counsel Robert Mueller, admitted to helping Manafort conceal $75 million in foreign bank accounts from their years of Ukraine lobbying work.

[...]

Ultimately, Mueller relied on many details from Gates in his final report, and Gates testified at trials against Manafort, Roger Stone and another former associate on Ukraine matters, Greg Craig.