Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort was scheduled to stand trial in the comings weeks in Washington on a number of charges, just weeks after a trial concluded in Virginia where Manafort was found guilty of 8 out of 18 criminal counts including bank and tax fraud.
But, perhaps in a bid to avoid another lengthy trial, it has been reported that Manafort reached an agreement with Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation to plead guilty on a number of counts related to unregistered lobbying on behalf of foreign governments.
According to The Daily Caller, an emailed statement from the Mueller investigation revealed that “an arraignment and plea agreement hearing” had been scheduled for Friday at the D.C. federal courthouse, where Manafort was expected to enter a guilty plea.
Nothing to do with Trump
“A superseding criminal information against Paul J. Manafort, Jr., 69, of Alexandria, Va., has been filed today in the District of Columbia, which alleges a conspiracy against the United States (money laundering, tax fraud, failing to file Foreign Bank Account Reports, violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and lying and misrepresenting to the Department of Justice) and a conspiracy to obstruct justice (witness tampering),” Special Counsel Press said in the statement.
None of those charges have anything to do with the Trump campaign or Manafort’s brief tenure as chair of that campaign, and instead are related to his lobbying on behalf of the Ukraine government in the years prior to his involvement with then-candidate Donald Trump.
The mainstream media narrative purports that Manafort was pursuing a pro-Russia agenda while working in Ukraine, but conflicting reports indicate he was actually working toward a pro-America, pro-European Union agenda for the former Soviet satellite state.
Unlikely to be flipping on Trump
CNBC reported on Friday that details of the agreement had yet to be disclosed.
It was unclear if the deal involved Manafort’s cooperation with Mueller in regard to a potential case against President Trump, but Manafort was reportedly resistant to providing information to Mueller about Trump in alleged discussions earlier in the week about a potential plea agreement.
Earlier reports suggested that the plea deal would not include an explicit requirement that Manafort provides assistance to Mueller in his investigation of alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government.
Neither representatives of Manafort nor representatives of Mueller’s investigation agreed to provide comment on the reports of a plea deal.
[show_poll poll_id=825]
Some will point to this guilty plea agreement from Manafort as an admission of wrongdoing, but while Manafort certainly appears to have done some shady things, those actions took place prior to Manafort’s involvement with Trump.
Furthermore, unless evidence to the contrary is made known to the public, odds are this plea agreement came about largely so Manafort and Mueller could avoid another expensive and lengthy trial, and not because Manafort has “flipped” and is helping Mueller go after the president.
258 Responses
Wow, incredible blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your site is great, let alone the content!
This excellent website certainly has all the info I needed about this subject and didn’t know who to ask.
I in addition to my pals came studying the nice tips found on your web site and then at once came up with a terrible feeling I never expressed respect to you for those secrets. All the boys came totally excited to read them and already have clearly been taking pleasure in those things. Thank you for being very considerate and for selecting varieties of really good subject matter most people are really needing to understand about. My sincere regret for not expressing appreciation to earlier.
I like it whenever people get together and share views. Great site, stick with it!
Great tremendous issues here. I am very satisfied to look your post. Thanks so much and i’m having a look forward to touch you. Will you kindly drop me a e-mail?
Great post. I used to be checking constantly this blog and I am inspired! Very useful information specially the final phase 🙂 I maintain such info much. I was seeking this particular information for a long time. Thanks and good luck.
Your style is really unique compared to other people I’ve read stuff from. Many thanks for posting when you’ve got the opportunity, Guess I will just bookmark this page.
I beloved up to you’ll receive carried out right here. The cartoon is tasteful, your authored material stylish. nevertheless, you command get got an nervousness over that you would like be delivering the following. in poor health no doubt come further until now once more since exactly the same nearly very steadily inside of case you shield this increase.
Hi there, You’ve performed an incredible job. I will definitely digg it and in my opinion suggest to my friends. I am sure they will be benefited from this website.
I really like it when folks get together and share ideas. Great site, keep it up!
Wonderful blog! Do you have any tips for aspiring writers? I’m planning to start my own blog soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you recommend starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many options out there that I’m completely confused .. Any ideas? Many thanks!
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You obviously know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your blog when you could be giving us something enlightening to read?
Hi there I am so glad I found your blog page, I really found you by accident, while I was searching on Yahoo for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say thank you for a marvelous post and a all round exciting blog (I also love the theme/design), I dont have time to read it all at the moment but I have saved it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read more, Please do keep up the awesome job.
Greetings! Very useful advice in this particular article! It’s the little changes that produce the most important changes. Many thanks for sharing!
Wow that was odd. I just wrote an really long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyhow, just wanted to say excellent blog!
I was recommended this web site by my cousin. I’m not sure whether this post is written by him as no one else know such detailed about my trouble. You are wonderful! Thanks!
Your style is very unique compared to other folks I’ve read stuff from. I appreciate you for posting when you’ve got the opportunity, Guess I will just bookmark this site.
Hola! I’ve been reading your website for some time now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Atascocita Tx! Just wanted to say keep up the excellent work!
It is truly a great and helpful piece of information. I am satisfied that you simply shared this useful information with us. Please stay us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.
Youre so cool! I dont suppose Ive read anything like this before. So nice to seek out anyone with some authentic thoughts on this subject. realy thank you for beginning this up. this website is one thing that’s wanted on the internet, somebody with just a little originality. helpful job for bringing one thing new to the internet!
I have been checking out some of your stories and i must say nice stuff. I will make sure to bookmark your website.
Thank you for all your efforts on this website. My mother take interest in participating in investigation and it’s really simple to grasp why. I know all of the dynamic mode you create great thoughts on this website and therefore inspire contribution from other individuals on this article plus our simple princess is without a doubt learning a lot of things. Take pleasure in the remaining portion of the new year. You have been doing a powerful job.
I¡¦ve been exploring for a little for any high-quality articles or blog posts in this kind of area . Exploring in Yahoo I eventually stumbled upon this web site. Studying this info So i am happy to show that I’ve a very good uncanny feeling I found out exactly what I needed. I most certainly will make sure to do not forget this website and give it a glance regularly.
Thanks , I have recently been searching for information approximately this topic for ages and yours is the greatest I’ve came upon till now. But, what about the bottom line? Are you positive about the supply?
I regard something really special in this website.
I think other web-site proprietors should take this website as an model, very clean and wonderful user friendly style and design, as well as the content. You are an expert in this topic!
Wonderful work! That is the kind of info that should be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for now not positioning this submit higher! Come on over and discuss with my website . Thanks =)
I simply could not leave your web site before suggesting that I really loved the standard information an individual provide for your guests? Is going to be again regularly to inspect new posts.
major array of high quality cat trees & cat scratching posts. Least expensive prices confirmed
Oh my goodness! Impressive article dude! Thanks, However I am experiencing troubles with your RSS. I don’t understand the reason why I cannot join it. Is there anybody else getting the same RSS problems? Anyone that knows the answer can you kindly respond? Thanx!!
I believe that is one of the so much vital information for me. And i am glad studying your article. But wanna statement on few common issues, The website taste is ideal, the articles is really nice : D. Good job, cheers
Well I truly enjoyed studying it. This article procured by you is very practical for correct planning.
Cool blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere? A theme like yours with a few simple tweeks would really make my blog jump out. Please let me know where you got your theme. Kudos
WANSHENG GAMING
Hello my friend! I wish to say that this post is awesome, great written and come with approximately all vital infos. I’d like to look extra posts like this.
Have you ever thought about including a little bit more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is fundamental and everything. However just imagine if you added some great visuals or video clips to give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with images and videos, this website could definitely be one of the very best in its field. Wonderful blog!
My partner and I absolutely love your blog and find a lot of your post’s to be exactly I’m looking for. Would you offer guest writers to write content for you? I wouldn’t mind producing a post or elaborating on many of the subjects you write with regards to here. Again, awesome site!
Really fantastic blog, I ever read. Super cool post here. Thanks for sharing such beautiful post here.
WOW! Just WOW! Blog it is! Excellent post here. Thank you so much!
Hello would you mind letting me know which hosting company you’re using? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different web browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you suggest a good hosting provider at a fair price? Many thanks, I appreciate it!