Manafort allegedly shared polling data with Russian
WASHINGTON >> Paul Manafort shared 2016 presidential campaign polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, a former employee whom the FBI has said has ties to Russian intelligence, according to a court filing from his defense attorneys.
The former Trump campaign chairman on Tuesday denied in a filing that he broke his plea deal by lying repeatedly to prosecutors working for special counsel Robert Mueller about that and other issues.
But in doing so, he exposed details of the dispute that were apparently meant to be redacted, including that the special counsel alleges he “lied about sharing polling data with Mr. Kilimnik related to the 2016 presidential campaign.”
The unredacted filing in the District of Columbia federal court says Manafort also discussed a Ukrainian peace plan with Kilimnik, a former employee of his consulting firm who the FBI assessed as having ties to Russian intelligence. In his filing, Manafort’s lawyers said any inconsistencies in those interviews were unintentional and in part attributable to his months in solitary confinement at the Alexandria jail in Virginia, which they say has “taken a toll on his physical and mental health.”
“There is no support for the proposition that Mr. Manafort intentionally lied to the Government,” defense attorneys wrote in a Tuesday court filing. “Mr. Manafort provided complete and truthful information to the best of his ability.”
Prosecutors accused Manafort of telling “multiple discernible lies” over the course of 12 interviews with investigators and two grand jury appearances since his guilty plea in September in Washington to conspiring to defraud the United States and conspiring to obstruct justice through his undisclosed lobbying for a pro-Russian politician in Ukraine.
“For several months Mr. Manafort has suffered from severe gout, at times confining him to a wheelchair,” the lawyers wrote. “He also suffers from depression and anxiety and, due to the facility’s visitation regulations, has had very little contact with his family.”
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson demanded in a Dec. 11 hearing that prosecutors provide more details to allow her to determine whether Manafort failed to fully cooperate as required under his deal, and should face tougher sentencing.
In the Tuesday filing, Manafort’s lawyers said the dispute can be dealt with through the sentencing process, because prosecutors have said they have no plans to file fresh charges.
The longtime Republican consultant already faces a possible maximum, 10-year prison sentence in his District of Columbia case under federal guidelines for conspiring to cheat the Internal Revenue Service, violate foreignlobbying laws and tamper with witnesses. That time could come in addition to his punishment for separate convictions in Virginia on tax and bank fraud charges.
Jackson had said she expected she would be required by each side to assess Manafort’s truthfulness at sentencing, and gave prosecutors a week to respond to Tuesday’s filing and set a hearing for arguments Jan. 25.
Manafort faces a tentative March 5 sentencing date in his federal case in D.C. If he is found to have breached the deal, he would lose any sentencing credits for acceptance of responsibility, prosecutors said.
The longtime lobbyist is set for sentencing Feb. 8 in Virginia before U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III of Alexandria.
Under the agreement with prosecutors in his D.C. case, Manafort also was ordered to forfeit an estimated $15 million he hid from the IRS, but was permitted to keep some property held with relatives. In return for his cooperation, he hoped to have prosecutors recommend leniency, possibly slicing years off his prison term.