Mueller says Manafort violated his plea deal by lying to investigators
Breaking News: Robert Mueller says former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort violated his plea deal by lying to investigators.
Paul Manafort and Donald Trump thinking they're going to outmaneuver Robert Mueller: pic.twitter.com/HhSZjntb3c
- Rex Huppke (@RexHuppke) November 27, 2018
Federal investigators wrote in a court filing [which you can read here in PDF] that Manafort's "crimes and lies" during a series of interviews with prosecutors working for FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller relieve them of all promises they made to Manafort in the plea agreement.
Lying to the feds is never wise.
Neither is associating with Donald Trump.
From the New York Times:
Defense lawyers disagreed. Mr. Manafort has been truthful with the special counsel's office and has abided by the agreement, they argued in the same status report to Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Given the impasse between the two sides, Mr. Manafort asked that Judge Jackson set a sentencing date.
The dramatic development in the 11th hour of Mr. Manafort's case means, at a minimum, that prosecutors will not ask for a lighter punishment in return for his cooperation. They could also conceivably seek to refile bank fraud charges that they agreed to dismiss as part of the plea agreement.
The prosecutors did not describe what Mr. Manafort lied about, promising to file a sentencing memo that sets forth "the nature of the defendant's crimes and lies."
A jury in Northern Virginia convicted Mr. Manafort, 69, of eight counts of financial fraud in August stemming from his work as a political consultant in Ukraine. Faced with a second trial in the District of Columbia on related charges in September, he pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts and to an open-ended arrangement requiring him to answer "fully, truthfully, completely and forthrightly" questions about "any and all matters" of interest to the government.
Manafort faces a prison term of at least 10 years for his crimes.
He is scheduled to be sentenced in the Northern Virginia case in February, 2019.
BREAKING: Prosecutors Claim Paul Manafort Lied To Robert Mueller's Office And The FBI After Signing His Plea Deal https://t.co/oxNmQHbXj0
- Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) November 27, 2018
Apparent collapse of @PaulManafort cooperation agreement means he faces more than a decade behind bars to his September guilty plea to cheating the IRS, violating foreign lobbying laws and attempting to obstruct justice.
- Steve Herman (@W7VOA) November 27, 2018
5/ Today's filing indicates that Mueller believes he can prove that Manafort lied on multiple occasions. It's worth noting that we knew of at least one unusual issue with Manafort's cooperation--Trump's lawyers said Manafort's lawyers were updating them on Manafort's actions.
- Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) November 27, 2018
9/ Manafort is now in a worse position than if he didn't cooperate in the first place and just pleaded guilty. Mueller can now invalidate the cooperation deal and has indicated in the report that he *has* broken the deal.
- Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) November 27, 2018
Lawyers for special counsel Robert Mueller and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort have told a judge in Washington that Manafort is ready for sentencing.
- NPR (@NPR) November 27, 2018
Yikes. The extent to which Manafort has apparently never realized that Bob Mueller knows all is incredible. Third time he's been caught lying by Mueller over this year. https://t.co/vIyLJl0AAA
- Garrett M. Graff (@vermontgmg) November 27, 2018
BAD NEWS FOR MANAFORT: He won't get the benefit of prosecutors asking for a lighter sentence. Instead, they could seek to refile bank fraud charges that they agreed to dismiss as part of the plea agreement. https://t.co/6jafuYB4VI
- Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) November 27, 2018
So, after being accused of a series of lies regarding his work, Paul Manafort was accused of trying to get others to lie, and then, after being convicted of some lies, he reached a plea agreement to avoid a trial on the other lies, after which he is accused of telling more lies.
- Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) November 27, 2018