\u00ab\u00a0What does this mean for President Trump?\u00a0\u00bb<\/b>
\nWord of a potential plea deal began leaking out late yesterday, and this time the leaks proved true. Special counsel Robert Mueller filed a superseding indictment against Paul Manafort in federal court today in conjunction with a plea deal, in which Donald Trump\u2019s former campaign manager will avoid a second trial. No word yet on what Mueller gets from the deal, but at the very least, Manafort gets to save money on defense attorneys in what looked like a lost cause:
WATCH: NBC News Special Report: Paul Manafort has agreed with federal prosecutors to plead guilty in Mueller investigation. https:\/\/t.co\/BMFRd4yMp9 pic.twitter.com\/7IJawFpqYu
\u2014 NBC News (@NBCNews) September 14,2018
Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump\u2019s former campaign chairman, has agreed with federal prosecutors to plead guilty in special counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s probe, court filings Friday show.
A superseding criminal information against Manafort, 69, was filed Friday 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).
News that Manafort and special counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s office were nearing a deal was first reported by ABC News, and later confirmed by The New York Times, Reuters and Fox News.
The new indictment drops five of the remaining felony charges, leaving just two for the conviction \u2014 conspiracy against the US and conspiracy to obstruct justice, the latter related to the witness tampering allegation that cost Manafort his bail. Manafort still faces a potentially long sentence if convicted, but he\u2019s already facing a stiff sentence from his earlier conviction, one that would put the 69-year-old behind bars for most of what remains of his life anyway. It\u2019s all but certain that any additional sentence would have run concurrently rather than consecutively, meaning that Mueller wasn\u2019t going to get much more out of the spending of cash either.
So everyone saves money, which is good enough reason to settle this before trial. But did Mueller get something more significant in return than a savings for his budget? NBC\u2019s anchors wondered the same thing, asking rhetorically, \u201cWhat does this mean for President Trump?\u201d Has Manafort flipped?
Answer: no one really knows, at least not yet. If Manafort was going to cooperate at all, one would think that he would have done so before getting convicted in his first trial while he could still negotiate for his freedom. Besides, Manafort was campaign manager for Trump for only a relatively short period of time. Despite the year-plus of Manafort\u2019s arrests, indictments, and prosecutions, nothing Mueller ever alleged had anything to do with the campaign \u2014 and except for the obstruction charges, only related to Manafort\u2019s activities from 2014 and before. There may be nothing to trade, and Mueller might have finally realized that Manafort was a dry hole for his investigation.
If that\u2019s the case, then Mueller probably won\u2019t have much more to do, other than chase down some other tangential issues with Roger Stone and gripe about Trump\u2019s obstructive tendencies. However, if Manafort has decided to cooperate with Mueller in regard to Trump and has something worthwhile to trade, then\u2026 the White House had better batten down the hatches for more than just Hurricane Florence.
Update: ABC notes that Manafort has conceded on asset forfeiture in the new charging document. Is that all Mueller got in exchange? The White House had better hope so.<\/p>\n

\n

Similarity rank: 37<\/div>\n

Sentiment rank: 0.4<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n