title: Trump says Manafort charges 'years ago'; indictment includes 2017
text: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Monday responded to charges against former campaign manager Paul Manafort by saying the allegations predated his tenure on Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, but the indictment states the activities continued into 2017. “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?????” Trump wrote, referring to his former Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. The indictment says Manafort and associate Rick Gates conspired to defraud the United States “from in or about and between 2006 and 2017.” 