Manafort signals he intends to plead guilty before new trial
Paul Manafort signalled Friday that he intends to plead guilty ahead of a second trial as prosecutors filed new charging documents against the former Trump campaign chairman. The charges in Friday’s filing were contained a criminal information, a document that can only be filed with a defendant’s consent and typically signals a deal has been reached. The charges include conspiracy against the United States and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Manafort is expected to appear in court later Friday morning. The allegations do not involve his work with the Trump campaign. It is not clear whether any agreement with prosecutors would require him to co-operate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into possible co-ordination between the Trump campaign and Russia. Manafort was facing a second trial set to begin on Monday on charges related to Ukrainian political consulting work, including failing to register as a foreign agent. It’s unclear how the possible deal might affect Manafort’s pursuit of a pardon from President Donald Trump. The president has signalled that he’s sympathetic to Manafort’s cause, and in comments to Politico, his attorney spokesman Rudy Giulia ni said a plea without a co-operation agreement wouldn’t foreclose the possibility of a pardon. Manafort has aggressively fought the charges against him and taken shots at his co-defendant, Rick Gates, who cut a deal with prosecutors earlier this year that included a co-operation agreement. At the time of Gates’ plea, Manafort issued a statement saying he “had hoped and expected my business colleague would have had the strength to continue the battle to prove our innocence.” And during his Virginia trial in August, Manafort’s lawyers spent considerable time painting Gates as a liar, embezzler, philanderer and turncoat who would say anything to get a lighter prison sentence. If he pleads guilty, Manafort would avoid a trial that was expected to last at least three weeks and posed the potential of adding years onto the seven to 10 years he is already facing under federal sentencing guidelines from his conviction in Virginia. A jury found Manafort guilty of eight counts of tax evasion, failing to report foreign bank accounts and bank fraud. Jurors deadlocked on 10 other counts. In the Washington case, prosecutors were set to lay out in great detail Manafort’s political consulting and lobbying work on behalf of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and the pro-Russian Party of Regions. Prosecutors say that Manafort directed a large scale lobbying operation in the U.S. for Ukrainian interests without registering with the Justice Department as required by the federal Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA. Manafort was accused of concealing from the IRS tens of millions of dollars in proceeds from his Ukrainian patrons and conspiring to launder that money through offshore accounts in Cyprus and elsewhere. Manafort had denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty. Even after his indictment last October, though, prosecutors say he continued to commit crimes by tampering with witnesses.