Manafort pleads guilty and does Mueller deal
FORMER Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort pleaded guilty yesterday to two federal crimes after cutting a deal with prosecutors and agreeing to co-operate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
The move allows him to avoid a second criminal trial and ends his more than yearlong fight against the Russia investigation. Manafort was convicted last month of eight financial crimes in a separate trial in Virginia and faces 10 years in prison in that case.
The charges do not relate to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, the central issue in the special counsel’s investigation into possible contacts between Mr Trump’s campaign and Russia.
Yesterday’s move gives Mr Mueller another successful conviction while allowing Manafort to avoid another costly public trial that this time focused on allegations he acted as an unregistered foreign agent for Ukraine.
PAUL MANAFORT, Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, has agreed to “fully” co-operate with the Russian election meddling investigation in a plea deal to avoid a second criminal trial, it emerged yesterday.
Manafort will have to conduct interviews and debriefings with the probe’s prosecutors, hand over documents and testify in future cases as part of the agreement, a judge said.
It means that a member of the Trump campaign’s inner circle has now agreed to tell Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading the Russia investigation, what really happened behind closed doors during the presidential race.
Manafort pleaded guilty to two criminal charges – one for conspiracy against the United States and another for conspiracy to obstruct justice – but saw five other charges dropped as part of the deal.
It brings the total number of Trump aides who have pleaded guilty to crimes to five. The
‘He wanted to make sure his family was able to remain safe’
others are Michael Cohen, his former attorney, Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser, Rick Gates the former deputy campaign chairman, and George Papadopoulos, his former campaign foreign policy adviser.
Manafort’s crimes relate to his business dealings in Ukraine as a political consultant before he joined the campaign.
Sarah Sanders, Mr Trump’s press secretary, said: “This had absolutely nothing to do with the president or his victorious 2016 presidential campaign. It is totally unrelated.”
Manafort has repeatedly refused to co-operate with the Mueller probe in the past.
But last month he was found guilty of eight counts of tax fraud, bank fraud and failure to report a foreign bank account. He was expected to face a prison term of up to a decade.
Mr Trump praised him shortly after the convictions as being “brave” for not “flipping” – agreeing to hand over information to prosecutors in turn for leniency.
There were reports that the
US president had discussed using his executive powers to pardon Manafort.
However, with Manafort facing a second criminal trial, reports began to surface that he was considering a deal.
Yesterday morning, Mr Mueller’s team filed a new document outlining two criminal charges, down from an original seven.
The first charge related to money laundering, tax fraud, foreign bank accounts, lobbying and making misrepresentations to the Justice Department. The second was linked to witness tampering.
Appearing in court in Alexandria, Virginia, Manafort pleaded guilty. Judge Amy Berman Jackson said that as part of the plea deal he would have to co-operate “fully and truthfully” with Mr Mueller’s investigators.
Prosecutor Andrew Weissman said yesterday Manafort had struck a “co-operation agreement” and would plead guilty to charges related to his Ukrainian political consulting.
“He wanted to make sure his family was able to remain safe and live a good life. He’s accepted responsibility. This is for conduct that dates back many years and everybody should remember that,” Manafort’s attorney, Kevin Downing, said.
Mr Mueller gained a key co-operator in Manafort, who participated in a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer that Donald Trump Jr took, despite it being described as part of a Russian government effort to aid his father’s campaign. A grand jury used by Mr Mueller has heard testimony about the meeting.
“The president did nothing wrong,” said Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trump’s attorney. “Once again, an investigation has concluded with a plea having nothing to do with President Trump or the Trump campaign.” (© Daily Telegraph London)