Wiretapped calls between Trump and Paul Manafort would have difficult road to disclosure

If President Trump spoke with Paul Manafort while his former campaign manager was being wiretapped, experts say there's no quick legal route to disclose the existence or content of intercepted calls.

Public disclosure isn't guaranteed because two reported wiretap orders targeting Manafort were issued under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, rather than via the ordinary criminal wiretap statute.

If wiretap recordings are made during a standard criminal investigation, they can be disclosed with the consent of one party, said University of San Francisco law professor Susan Freiwald.

But because the warrants reportedly were granted under FISA, a section of law dealing with national security and delegated to a secret court, that avenue is unavailable.

"The evidence obtained pursuant to a FISA-based wiretap is entirely different," said Anne McKenna, who teaches at Penn State's law school.