Manafort pleads guilty, agrees to cooperate with Mueller

Bloomberg

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team scored a significant victory as President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman pleaded guilty to conspiring against the US and agreed to cooperate in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The former campaign aide, Paul Manafort, admitted to a decade of crimes related to his work as a consultant for pro-Russia politicians in Ukraine. While none of the charges relates to his work for the president, he was Trump’s campaign chairman for several months, and his links to Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs have been a focus of Mueller’s prosecutors. Manafort joins several other Trump aides who have pleaded guilty and are helping Mueller, including Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and Manafort’s former right-hand man, Rick Gates.
Manafort, 69, sat stoically with his head bowed in federal court in Washington as US prosecutor Andrew Weissmann spent 33 minutes detailing two conspiracy charges. Manafort said he laundered more than $30 million, cheated the US of $15 million in taxes and failed to tell US authorities about a secret lobbying campaign on behalf of Ukraine that reached into the Oval Office. Manafort also admitted trying to tamper with witnesses, joining with a longtime associate who prosecutors said has ties to Russian intelligence.
“I plead guilty,” Manafort told US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson. Manafort, who’s been in custody since June 15, mouthed a kiss to his wife, Kathleen, in the gallery as US marshals led him into the courtroom.
Manafort agreed to brief prosecutors, produce documents and testify if asked. After Jackson asked if Manafort understood that he must cooperate “fully and truthfully,” Manafort replied: “I do.”
Last month, Manafort was convicted in a Virginia federal court of tax and bank fraud.
Manafort will forfeit several New York properties, including a Trump Tower apartment and a sprawling estate in Bridgehampton, New York, along with other assets that fed a lavish lifestyle filled with custom suits and luxury cars. He gave up his right to appeal his conviction on eight counts last month in Virginia. In turn, prosecutors will drop 10 counts that led jurors to deadlock and the judge to declare a mistrial.
In return, he’ll avoid at least hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills and the prospect of additional charges, while potentially living as a free man in just a few years. Manafort won’t be sentenced until after his cooperation is complete, and only then will prosecutors dismiss the remaining charges against him in Virginia.
“Tough day for Mr. Manafort,” his lawyer, Kevin Downing, said outside the courthouse. “He’s accepted responsibility, and he wanted to make sure that his family was able to remain safe and live a good life. This is for conduct that dates back many years and everybody should remember that.”
Prosecutors will ask Manafort about his months running Trump’s campaign. In June 2016, he attended the meeting at Trump Tower in which Kremlin-backed attendees promised to offer damaging information about Trump’s 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton. Trump’s eldest son, Donald Jr., and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also attended the meeting.
Mueller agreed to give the judge a status report on Manafort’s cooperation by November 16. Congressional elections will take place on November 6.
The White House, which has repeatedly played down Manafort’s role on the campaign, distanced Trump from his former aide. “This had absolutely nothing to do with the president or his victorious 2016 presidential campaign. It is totally unrelated,” said Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary.