FBI Manafort raid in Russia probe sends strong signal: Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed "surprise" over the FBI early morning raid of his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort's home last month in connection with the Russia investigation, saying it sends "a very strong signal."

"You know, they do that very seldom, so I was surprised to see it. I was very, very surprised to see it,I thought it was a very, very strong signal, or whatever," CNN quoted Trump as saying during a working vacation at his golf club in New Jersey.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe team of investigators carried out the raid on July 26 at Manafort's northern Virginia home as part of the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election and any potential ties to the Trump campaign.

"I have not, but to do that early in the morning, whether or not it was appropriate you'd have to ask them," Trump said. "I've always found Paul Manafort to be a very decent man. He's like a lot of other people -- probably makes consultant fees from all over the place. Who knows? I don't know, but I thought it was pretty tough stuff to wake him up, perhaps his family was there."

Trump said he knows Manafort, but has not spoken to him "in a long time."

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller to lead the Russia investigation after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, who had originally been in charge of the bureau's probe.