Manafort allegedly began lying to investigators just two months after agreeing to cooperate.
Paul Manafort—President Donald Trump’s jailed former campaign chairman—has been accused of violating a plea deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller related to the former FBI director’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
The 69-year-old has been residing in jail since August when he was convicted of eight counts of bank and tax fraud in Northern Virginia. Following the verdict, the long-time political operative agreed to cooperate with Mueller to escape a second federal trial in Washington, D. C.
But in a blow to the investigation—and any hope Manafort had of a more lenient sentence—Mueller’s team now says Manafort began lying to them just two months after signing the deal in direct violation of the agreement, CNN reported. If investigators no longer consider Manafort a credible witness, they will not be able to use his testimony in their case.
In a joint statement with Manafort’s defense attorneys filed Monday, Mueller’s team explained, “Manafort committed federal crimes by lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Special Counsel’s Office on a variety of subject matters, which constitute breaches of the agreement.
