U.S. judge rules ex-Trump campaign chief breached plea deal

[webfact 35,728]

U.S. judge rules ex-Trump campaign chief breached plea deal

By Nathan Layne and Sarah N. Lynch

 

FILE PHOTO: Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort arrives for arraignment on a third superseding indictment against him by Special Counsel Robert Mueller on charges of witness tampering, at U.S. District Court in Washington, U.S. June 15, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort breached his plea agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office by lying to prosecutors, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday.

 

The ruling concludes weeks of wrangling between Manafort's lawyers and the special counsel over whether he had intentionally lied to prosecutors, impeding their investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

 

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is overseeing the Manafort case in a Washington court, found there was a "preponderance" of evidence that Manafort lied on three different topics, including his communications with his former business partner Konstantin Kilimnik, but she cleared Manafort of allegations that he intentionally lied on two other subjects.

 

The ruling follows last week's release of a court transcript that showed Mueller's team believed Manafort's alleged lies were central to their investigation into potential collusion, which Trump and Russia have both denied.

 

The investigation appears focused on a meeting held at the height of the election campaign between Manafortand Kilimnik, whom prosecutors say has ties to Russian intelligence, according to the court filing.

 

Mueller contends that Manafort lied about the number of times he and Kilimnik discussed a "Ukrainian peace plan" - a reference to a proposal that would result in the U.S. lifting sanctions on Russia, one of the Kremlin's top objectives.

 

In a court filing ahead of Wednesday's ruling, Manafort's lawyers repeated their argument that their client never intentionally lied to prosecutors and stressed that he corrected any mistakes once they were pointed out to him.

 

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Nathan Layne; editing by Tom Brown and G Crosse)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-02-14

[quandow 3,880]

6 minutes ago, webfact said:

"central to their investigation into potential collusion, which Trump and Russia have both denied."

No no no, Russia strongly denied. This means it's true according to the pussy-grabber-in-chief.

[Chomper Higgot 7,734]

Of course Manafort breached the terms of his cooperation deal, he’s a life time crook, he can’t help himself.

 

He’ll spend the rest of his life in the slammer.

 

And if tgat’s not good new in itself, there’s also the certainty that Roger Stone will be watching this with acute personal interest.

 

Illiberals get your denial glasses on, the truth will (despite Individual-1’s best efforts) out!

[Chomper Higgot 7,734]

Keep in mind, prior to breaking the terms of his cooperation deal, Manafort broke the terms of his bail by committing witness tampering (which the witnesses themselves reported to the FBI).

 

When his bail was withdrawn and he was thrown back in prison he then, with the aid of his lawyers, defied a court order by sending emails to witnesses (from his lawyer’s laptop).

 

Dum criminal Manafort with a dummer criminal lawyer.

 

Pence must be hoping nobody notices that it was Manafort who pushed him for Trump’s ‘running mate’.

 

[Tug 2,530]

What a dumpster fire lol Paul is done Donald hires only the best people lol can’t wait for the trumpers to start trying to distance Donald lol what a clown show

[riclag 1,993]

 Member of the process group, a Processarian ! He was a excellent delegate gatherer !

[Chomper Higgot 7,734]

17 minutes ago, riclag said:

 Member of the process group, a Processarian ! He was a excellent delegate gatherer !

He was Trump’s Campaign Chairman.

 

Attempts to play that down will not change the facts.

[mtls2005 6,793]

37 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

All of which caused Hillary Clinton to lose her election exactly how?

 

Manafort, among others, gave Kilimnik polling data allowing the GRU to focus their efforts on specific states and precincts. The election came down to ~ 77,744 votes in three states (PA, WI, MI).

 

This is just one single aspect of the cooperation between the Trump campaign and the Russians.

 

(There's a lot more information, which will likely silence the last few trump defenders, to come so maybe best to avoid reading the news.)

[stevenl 14,276]

9 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

 

Manafort, among others, gave Kilimnik polling data allowing the GRU to focus their efforts on specific states and precincts. The election came down to ~ 77,744 votes in three states (PA, WI, MI).

 

This is just one single aspect of the cooperation between the Trump campaign and the Russians.

 

(There's a lot more information, which will likely silence the last few trump defenders, to come so maybe best to avoid reading the news.)

"which will likely silence the last few trump defenders,"

Very unlikely, they'll just continue denying and deflecting. Facts don't exist anymore.

[mtls2005 6,793]

20 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Very unlikely, they'll just continue denying and deflecting. Facts don't exist anymore.

 

That's what logs are for.

 

Older folks like myself remember Nixon' "Silent Majority" hanging on until the walk to Marine One. 

[Scott 14,147]

Troll post and reply removed.  

 

[mtls2005 6,793]

This one never gets old...see if you can spot Manafort's "tell"...

 

 

[Chomper Higgot 7,734]

We now learn the Judge who just accepted Mueller's arguments against Manafort, has been appointed to hear Roger Stone's case.

 

Illiberals might wish to recall that this is the judge that made 'stern statements' about the aggressive nature of the arrest and prosecution of Manafort and that at the time, they (the illiberals) had high hopes that the judge was going to clip Mueller's wings. 

 

Casting your mind back to this you might be able to raise your hopes a little for Stone. 

 

I'd caution against doing so.

 

Illiberals get your denial glasses on, the truth will (despite Individual-1's best efforts) out.

 

[Emdog 1,119]

I imagine the big M is hoping for a presidential pardon for his criminal anti American activities. I wonder what sort of spin the republicans will employ? They used to be the party of "law and order" I recall.

[Briggsy 15,380]

Without the now ripped-up plea deal, sentencing guidelines for Manafort are now 24 - 30 years.