The left is salivating over the Paul Manafort plea deal since, as part of the deal, Manafort has agreed to cooperate with Robert Mueller. The left is rejoicing because they think “the jig is up” for the President. That is probably not the case.
NO RUSSIA COLLUSION
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.
Politico reports, however, and it’s important to note, a source close to the defense told them, “the cooperation agreement does not involve the Trump campaign. … There was no collusion with Russia.”
Paul Manafort managed the Trump campaign for several months until he was fired.
HILLARY’S FRIEND TONY PODESTA
So far, the Manafort indictment implicates lobbyists, Tony Podesta, and Mercury Public Affairs. They, as well as Paul Manafort, all failed to register as foreign agents of Ukraine for the work they did.
Clinton-connected lobbyist Tony Podesta knew he was working with Paul Manafort on behalf of a Ukrainian politician, according to an indictment released Friday by the special counsel’s office.
Podesta is the brother of Hillary’s campaign manager John Podesta.
As part of his “lobbying scheme,” Manafort solicited two lobbying firms in February 2012 to lobby on behalf of then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
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“Various employees of Companies A [Mercury operated by Vin Weber, a Republican ] and B [the Podesta Group] understood that they were receiving direction from MANAFORT and President Yanukovych, not the Centre, which was not even operational when Companies A and B began lobbying for Ukraine,” reads the indictment. The Centre is a reference to the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine, a Brussels-based non-profit that the government says was used to support Yanukovych.
Everyone knew they were working for Ukraine.
About half of DC hasn’t been registering under FARA.
GUILTY PLEA ON NUMEROUS CHARGES
Manafort is expected to plead guilty on Friday to a conspiracy against the United States and obstruction of justice. He was convicted in federal court in Virginia on Aug. 21 on bank fraud, tax fraud, and money laundering charges. He was scheduled to face trial in Washington, D.C. on the FARA charges — not registering as a foreign agent — and money laundering charges.
This is like the deal they made with Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen. It seems like Mueller wants to insinuate the President is a conspirator and obstructionist.
The Manafort deal puts a ten-year cap on any prison sentence and erases the deadlocked charges in Virginia. Manafort is 69 years old and is facing 8 to 10 years for the convictions last month in Virginia alone. He won’t face trial in D.C. Manafort will also have to forfeit four properties.
Mueller will not let him out of jail prior to sentencing and he will have to cooperate in any future cases.
TRUMP’S ATTORNEY DISCUSSES MANAFORT
Trump’s attorney, Rudy Guiliani offered his comments about the impending plea deal.
“We can see a reason why he might want to do that. What’s the need for another trial?” he told POLITICO on Wednesday. “They’ve got enough to put him in jail. His lawyer is going to argue they shouldn’t. The judge should decide this. Not Mueller. I think it’s pretty clear if they were going to get anything from him, they’d have gotten it already.”
Giuliani added that “From our perspective, we want him to do the right thing for himself.”
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