Tag: Paul Manafort

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Trump Campaign Chair Paul Manafort To Plead Guilty To Reduced Charges

Donald Trump's former campaign chair, Paul Manafort, will plead guilty to reduced charges today in an effort to avoid a second high-profile, costly trial.
Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort

UPDATE – Looks like I spoke too soon.

Talking Points Memo reports that the plea deal between Manafort and Special Counsel Robert Mueller includes an agreement to cooperate with the ongoing investigation.

That will not sit well with the Trumpster.

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Donald Trump’s former campaign chair, Paul Manafort, will plead guilty to reduced charges today in an effort to avoid a second high-profile, costly trial.

According to reports, he will cop to one count of conspiracy against the U.S. and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

This would make Manafort the fifth Trump campaign team member to plead guilty to criminal charges.

The charges stem from his work as a political consultant in Ukraine.

From The New York Times:

In documents filed with the United States District Court in Washington, prosecutors from Mr. Mueller’s office charged Mr. Manafort with one count of conspiracy and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. The prosecutors dropped five other charges encompassing money laundering and violations of a lobbying disclosure law.

So far, four former Trump aides have pleaded guilty to charges related to the special counsel investigation: Michael D. Cohen, the president’s longtime personal lawyer; Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser; Rick Gates, the former deputy campaign chairman; and George Papadopoulos, a former campaign adviser.

Mr. Manafort, who has repeatedly insisted that he would not cooperate with the special counsel, has been reassessing his legal risks after last month’s trial. He was found guilty in that case of eight counts of tax fraud, bank fraud and failure to report a foreign bank account, crimes that legal experts predicted were likely to result in a prison term of six to 12 years.

The Times goes on to say the agreement will include government seizure of four of Manafort’s homes as well as the funds in several bank accounts.

A document filed by federal prosecutors indicates Manafort will admit to funneling millions of dollars in payments into offshore accounts to conceal his income from the Internal Revenue Service which resulted in “cheating the United States out of over $15 million in taxes.”

There have been no reports that Manafort plans to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing-investigation.

I maintain that Manafort is “keeping his nose clean” in regard to his relationship with Donald Trump with the expectation that the president will step in and pardon Manafort.

Mark my words.

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ABC News Reports Manafort Reaches Plea Deal With Special Counsel Robert Mueller

Paul Manafort

ABC News is reporting former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort may have come to a plea deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller just before his second trial is to begin.

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has tentatively agreed to a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller that will head off his upcoming trial, sources familiar with the negotiations tell ABC News.

The deal is expected to be announced in court Friday, but it remains unclear whether Manafort has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors or is simply conceding to a guilty plea, which would allow him to avoid the stress and expense of trial, according to three sources with knowledge of the discussions.

Manafort was found guilty of 8 felony charges last month.

I still say Manafort is counting on a pardon from Donald Trump.

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Former Trump Attorney Pleads Guilty To 8 Counts, Former Trump Campaign Chair Found Guilty Of 8 Counts

Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen (L), former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort (R)

 Well, the folks in the White House have got to be serious shook at this point.

In a single afternoon, Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to 8 counts

From The New York Times:

Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s former fixer, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to breaking campaign finance laws and other charges. He made the extraordinary admission that he arranged payments to two women “at the direction of the candidate,” referring to Mr. Trump, to secure their silence about affairs they said they had with Mr. Trump.

Mr. Cohen told a judge in United States District Court in Manhattan that the payments were “for the principal purpose of influencing the election” for president in 2016.

Mr. Cohen also pleaded guilty to multiple counts of tax evasion and bank fraud, bringing to a close a monthslong investigation by Manhattan federal prosecutors who examined his personal business dealings and his role in helping to arrange financial deals with women connected to Mr. Trump.

Of course, the most stunning news here is that Cohen said, under oath, that he committed a crime at the direction of Donald Trump.

Prosecutors promised Cohen a prison sentence of between 43 to 63 months, although the judge isn’t bound by that agreement.

Cohen also did not agree to a cooperation deal regarding the Special Counsel’s ongoing investigation, but he could in the future. Robert Mueller could, in exchange, recommend a lesser sentence for Cohen.

At almost the same time, 250 miles south of New York City, Trump’s former campaign chair, Paul Manafort, was found guilty of 8 counts of the 18 he was charged with. The judge declared a mistrial on the other ten counts leaving the door open for a retrial on those charges.

Also from The New York Times:

The verdict was a victory for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, whose prosecutors built a case that Mr. Manafort hid millions of dollars in foreign accounts to evade taxes and lied to banks repeatedly to obtain $20 million in loans.

Mr. Manafort was convicted of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the remaining 10 counts, and the judge declared a mistrial on those charges.

Kevin Downing, a lawyer for Mr. Manafort, said his client was “evaluating all of his options at this point.”

Manafort faces a maximum of 80 years in prison for the 8 guilty counts. One legal scholar on MSNBC just said the sentencing guidelines would call for between 8-10 years in prison, possibly more since the judge can consider the other 10 charges in terms of sentencing if the evidence was considerable.

Plus, we don’t know if the prosecutors plan to retry the ten remaining counts.

However, I’ll state right now – you can count on Donald Trump to pardon Manafort.

Watch.

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Donald Trump: It’s “Sad” They Caught My Tax-Cheating Former Campaign Chairman

Donald Trump

A presidential pardon for Paul Manafort is on its way, trust me.

Donald Trump yelled at the press this morning on the White House lawn, telling them he was going to New York and New Jersey for “work, all work.”

He gets very defensive about his golf games, doesn’t he?

Along the way he predicted the 2018 midterms would be very good for Republicans, and he claimed he’s received great support for revoking John Brennan’s security clearance, ending up with this about his former campaign chair:

“I think the whole Manafort trial is very sad. If you look at what’s going on, it’s a very sad day for our country.He worked for me for a very short period of time, but you know what? He happens to be a very good person. And I think it’s very sad what they’ve done to Paul Manafort.”

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Special Counsel Again Requests To Interview Trump On Obstruction Of Justice

Donald Trump

According to ABC News, Special Counsel Robert Mueller has requested to interview Donald Trump regarding issues pertaining to obstruction of justice.

ABC News reports:

According to sources, the president learned within the last day that the special counsel will limit the scope of questioning and would like to ask questions both orally and written for the President to respond to.

According to sources familiar with the President’s reaction Wednesday morning, that was the genesis for his early morning tweet storm. Negotiations over a potential presidential interview have gone on for months, through several different iterations of the Trump legal team.

You’ll note Trump now says Manafort “worked for me for a very short time.”

When he won the election, he hailed Manafort’s great work.

Here’s the Twitter rant referenced in the ABC News report.

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Former Trump Campaign Chair Paul Manafort Ordered To Jail

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort ordered to jail
Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort ordered to jail for witness tampering

A federal judge has ordered Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chair to jail amid new charges he had attempted to tamper with government witnesses for his upcoming trial.

According to CNN’s Marshall Cohen, prosecutors said Manafort used a method called “foldering” to covertly communicate people in an attempt to evade detection.

Manafort created an email account and shared the password with others. He would write messages then save them as drafts, never sending the actual emails. Other folks would open the draft, read it, and delete.

#shady

From The New York Times:

Mr. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, had posted a $10 million bond and was under house arrest while awaiting his September trial on a host of charges, including money laundering and false statements.

But Judge Amy Berman Jackson of United States District Court for the District of Columbia said Mr. Manafort could not remain free, even under stricter conditions, in the face of new felony charges that he had engaged in witness tampering while out on bail. “This is not middle school,” she said during a 90-minute court hearing. “I can’t take away his cellphone.”

Mr. Trump, in a tweet on Friday, defended Mr. Manafort and criticized Judge Jackson’s action against him, though he seemed to misunderstand what the judge had done.

“Wow, what a tough sentence for Paul Manafort, who has represented Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and many other top political people and campaigns,” Mr. Trump wrote. “Didn’t know Manafort was the head of the Mob. What about Comey and Crooked Hillary and all of the others? Very unfair!”

In a superseding indictment filed last week, the prosecutors working for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, claimed that Mr. Manafort and a close associate, Konstantin V. Kilimnik, had contacted two witnesses earlier this year, hoping to persuade them to testify that Mr. Manafort had never lobbied in the United States for Viktor F. Yanukovych, the pro-Russia president of Ukraine.

The Twitterverse reacts:

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News Round-Up: June 8, 2018

Kevin Carnell (image via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• Participating in the AIDS/Life Cycle, InstaHunk Kevin Carnell (above) has raised over $15K! Just another of many obvious reasons to follow him on Instagram. #Woof

• Family Research Council president Tony Perkins is furious that a Crossfit exec was fired for being anti-LGBT.

• There’s going to be a calendar for America’s hottest gingers – you know you want to take a look 🙂

• Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller brought new obstruction charges on Friday against President Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and added allegations against a close associate, who prosecutors suspect has ties to Russian intelligence. Manafort could have his current bail revoked as Mueller’s team caught Manafort contacting possible witnesses in his case which is seen as attempting to influence their testimony.

• Remember convicted gay basher Kathryn Knott who went to jail for leading an attack on a gay couple in Philly’s Center City neighborhood? Bucks County Commissioners approved a settlement agreement of more than $52K with a Norristown woman who claimed the county District Attorney’s Office retaliated against her because of disparaging comments she made about Knott on social media.

• Check out new music from Zach Adam Feat. Adam Joseph “Gravity,” from new LGBTQ music label, Magic Town Media.

The track is a gorgeous pop track about yearning to overcome addiction and depression. I like the track muchly.

If you are considering suicide please call and reach out – The Trevor Lifeline is a 24/7 crisis intervention and suicide prevention phone service available at 1-866-488-7386.

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Donald Trump Throws Former Campaign Chair Paul Manafort Under The Bus

Donald Trump (L), Paul Manfort (R)

President Trump continued his attacks on the FBI and Department of Justice this morning, this time for not informing him during the 2016 election cycle that his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was being investigated at the time.

Ranting on Twitter, Trump tweeted that Manafort “came into the campaign very late and was with us for a short period of time,” but said the campaign “should have been told that Comey and the boys were doing a number on him, and he wouldn’t have been hired!”

Manafort joined the campaign team in June 2016, but stepped down two months later after media reports of his dealings with the Ukraine government came to light.

It might be time to cut that deal with the Special Counsel, Mr. Manafort.

Manafort has been charged with dozens of crimes including bank fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and more.

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Federal Judge Denies Paul Manafort’s Request To Dismiss Charges Against Him

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort

CNN reports that a federal judge has denied former Donald Trump campaign chairman’s request to invalidate the criminal case again him brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Manafort’s legal team argued that the Special Counsel’s orders were too broad and that Mueller had overstepped his legal authority.

But federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled that Mueller’s investigation and his prosecution of Manafort are legal.

Manafort maintains his innocence to charges related to his work as a lobbyist for Ukrainian politicians.

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Federal Judge: Former Trump Campaign Chair Paul Manafort Faces “Real Possibility” Of Life In Prison

Paul Manafort

A federal judge in Virginia says former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort poses not only a “substantial risk of flight” but also faces “the very real possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison.”

From Politico:

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III, who is based in Alexandria, Virginia, and is assigned to a newly filed indictment against Manafort dealing with bank fraud and tax evasion, said the veteran lobbyist and political consultant posed “a substantial risk of flight” because of his assets and the gravity of his legal predicament.

“The defendant is a person of great wealth who has the financial means and international connections to flee and remain at large, as well as every incentive to do so,” Ellis wrote in an order setting the terms of what the judge called “home incarceration” for Manafort, 68, who lives in Alexandria but also has homes in Florida and on Long Island.

“Given the nature of the charges against the defendant and the apparent weight of the evidence against him, defendant faces the very real possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison,” wrote Ellis, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan.