President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has agreed to plead guilty to federal crimes at a hearing Friday morning, ending his long losing battle with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
We don’t know if any sentencing deal was involved. It’s possible that Manafort’s and Trump’s lawyers decided Manafort should plead guilty, avoid a trial that likely would look bad for Trump, and then Trump can pardon him sometime down the road, likely after the midterms. We may know something later today.
Update: Politico is reporting that Manafort has agreed to cooperate with Mueller.
The deal dismisses deadlocked charges against Manafort from an earlier trial, but only after “successful cooperation” with Mueller’s probe into Russian election interference and whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Moscow on its efforts. Later, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Manafort is agreeing to “cooperate fully and truthfully” with the investigation.
However, a source close to the defense told POLITICO, “the cooperation agreement does not involve the Trump campaign. … There was no collusion with Russia.”
Separately, the agreement calls for a 10-year cap on how long Manafort will be sent to prison, and for Manafort to serve time from his separate Virginia and Washington cases concurrently. But it will not release Manafort from jail, where he has been held since Mueller’s team added witness tampering charges during the run-up to the longtime lobbyist’s trial.
Let’s hope “the source close to the defense” is wrong.
I just want to see Trump booted from office and his two little inbred son's doing this routine as they enter a federal corrections facility for obstruction of justice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FM9F6ChszQ
Collusion collision. Whoever uses that word is usually lying.
How about conspiracy.
I hope mueller got something. Manafort was scared of D C jury.
The source has to be wrong (maybe it’s a smoke screen to fool trump). The. Terms of the deal expressly require “full cooperation” with mueller, not “full cooperation, except for xyz topics.” No prosecution would make that deal because it would just inevitably lead to fights about what she this or that question involved Russia.
Waiting for Trump tweet. Should be epic.
The truly funny is Giuliani who said Manafort would tell the truth then revised his comment w/o the tell the truth part. Makes it hard to deny the veracity of the testimony, ha ha ha
How can Manafort's agreement not be relevant to the Trump campaign and Russia? Manafort was present at the infamous Trump Tower meeting. He is not going to asked about that?
Manafort may not implicate Trump, Sr., but it is hard to imagine that the campaign will come out Scott free.
Poor, poor, Paulie.
He's like the sap in a high-stakes poker game who stays in too long and is lucky to walk home in his underwear.
He would have gotten a much better deal if he'd "flipped" earlier – dumbass.
Twit gets filtered yet again?!?!?!
Isn't it nice to see the Repugs find a friend for Clarence Thomas. Soon there will be two known sexual perverts on the Supreme Court. I hope Manafort puts a whole bunch of people in jail.
Isn't it nice to see the Repugs find a friend for Clarence Thomas.
Yeah! Maybe Kavanaugh might have an extra copy of Long Dong Silver Rides Again on a DVD that Thomas can borrow. Clarence's VCR tape of Long Dong is getting pretty worn out after 20+ years repeated playing.
Swami,
Thomas's Long Dong VHS copy was so sticky, it jammed his player a long time ago.
Ditto his DVD player.
EWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!
Manafort's plea is fear inducing. He admitted to working as an unregistered foreign agent on behalf of and against Ukrainian factions. Part of his work involved spreading misinformation. He was a professional reality bender, dealing with an area of interest and involvement by Russia. The amount of money involved was staggering. He went to great lengths not to pay taxes on much of this money. His lifestyle was, to say the least, lavish.
Again, Turkey and Erdogan loom in the equation, with business connections primary actors in this ongoing flight from democracy. United States interests there are more than just an air force base, as it's example as a budding and successful democracy fade into news of financial crisis and a religiously aligned dictatorship.
Of note also is the changes and wording of the Republican party's policy planks on Ukraine from the convention. Manafort's role and the role of international players on the wording and thrust of these policy statements is full of serious questions that demand honest answers. Manafort's financial problems at that point in time, along with his lavish lifestyle, provide a more than ample motivation for untoward compromise.
Maybe a tipping point is near. Some donors (Koch Bros.) are thinking twice about opening their purses for the GOP, given Congress could void the Trump tariffs in a half-hour of debate if they just had the backbone to swat Private Bone Spurs on the nose like a puppy who let loose on the sofa. Others, like the favorite terrorist group of the Right, the NRA, have simply gone underground, with new rules from Congress to hide donor info, recently blocked in the courts, then UNBLOCKED by a certain corrupt Chief Justice. Perhaps rifts will open in Congress as legislators see more and more of their consultants doing plea deals to avoid doing time.
"Lindsey Graham open to woman testifying to Congress." You bet he is. Ms. Lindsey is open to that so that he can attack her in the same way Anita Hill was attacked. Maybe the men have forgotten about that farce; but, the women haven't. I think she should turn them down. She has said her piece; let her get on with her life. Because past experience has shown the women end up the worse for wear in these situations. Even #metoo can't help her. I am so sick and tired of trump and his womanizing cohorts. So much for making America great again. The people who wear those hats are probably the worst Americans around and are totally incapable of knowing what great is.
Mayor Bug Eyes has said a lot of crap but the hints that Trump can fire anyone and Trump will suppress the Mueller Report might be based in fact. If so, the question I have is whether Rudy is criminally liable for obstruction also if he participates in drafting any of the paperwork on Trump's behalf? A former prosecutor should know where the line is, better than you or I, but Rudy seems intent on being the king's jester. All the way to jail?