A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort Paul John ManafortLegal intrigue swirls over ex-Trump exec Weisselberg: Five key points There was Trump-Russia collusion — and Trump pardoned the colluder Treasury: Manafort associate passed 'sensitive' campaign data to Russian intelligence MORE intentionally lied to the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller Robert (Bob) MuellerSenate Democrats urge Garland not to fight court order to release Trump obstruction memo Why a special counsel is guaranteed if Biden chooses Yates, Cuomo or Jones as AG Barr taps attorney investigating Russia probe origins as special counsel MORE multiple times in the course of his cooperation with the government. Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled Wednesday evening that Manafort intentionally misled investigators on a range of subjects, including his contacts with a Russian business associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, and a separate Justice Department investigation being run out of another district. ADVERTISEMENT Jackson, who is overseeing Manafort’s Washington, D.C., case, ruled that the special counsel “established by a preponderance of the evidence” that Manafort intentionally lied about a payment made to a firm working for him; his interactions with Kilimnik, a Russian who is suspected of having ties to Kremlin intelligence, and during the course of the unknown Justice Department investigation. Jackson wrote in particular that Manafort’s lies about the payment and his contacts with Kilimnik were “material to the investigation.” However, the judge said Mueller failed to establish sufficient evidence that Manafort intentionally lied about his contacts with the Trump administration or Kilimnik’s role in a scheme to tamper with witnesses. Manafort is scheduled to be sentenced in D.C. on March 13. “This order does not address the question of whether the defendant will receive credit for his acceptance of responsibility in connection with the calculation of the Sentencing Guidelines or how any other Guideline provision will apply to this case,” Jackson wrote in the order Wednesday. “Those issues, which depend on the consideration of a number of additional factors, will be determined at sentencing,” Jackson wrote. Manafort’s attorneys, meanwhile, have denied that he lied to the special counsel. “Mr. Manafort did not lie,” they wrote in a redacted memo also filed Wednesday. “Despite the considerable efforts of the Office of Special Counsel … it cannot prove what did not happen.” The filings followed a sealed hearing in Manafort's case Wednesday afternoon regarding the lying accusations. Manafort was indicted on several federal charges stemming from his lobbying on behalf of pro-Russian forces in Ukraine back in October 2017 in connection with the special counsel’s investigation. He was convicted of bank and tax fraud in a trial in Alexandria, Va., over the summer before pleading guilty to two separate charges in order to avert a second federal trial in Washington, D.C. As part of that agreement, Manafort, a witness to the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer, agreed to cooperate with the special counsel’s investigation. However, Mueller late last year accused Manafort of lying to FBI investigators on multiple subjects in breach of his plea agreement with the special counsel. Manafort’s attorneys consistently contested the allegations, arguing he told the truth to the best of his ability and did not intentionally lie. Manafort was seen as a potentially valuable witness for Mueller in his investigation of Russia's election interference and potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Moscow. Manafort worked for nearly half a year on the campaign before resigning in August 2016 over revelations of his lobbying on behalf of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. His former business partner, Richard Gates, who also worked on the Trump campaign, has also pleaded guilty and been cooperating in the investigation. Gates and Manafort are two of six Trump associates to be charged in connection with the investigation. The special counsel has also indicted more than two dozen Russians for using social media and hacking to meddle in the election. However, none of those charges have alleged a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. President Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE, meanwhile, has derided the investigation as a partisan "witch hunt" and denied allegations of collusion. Manafort is expected to be sentenced separately in Virginia sometime later this year. --Updated 8 p.m.<doc-sep>A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, lied to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s prosecutors despite agreeing to cooperate in the sprawling Russia investigation. The decision by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson effectively voids Manafort’s plea agreement and means the 69-year-old former Republican operative and lobbyist will likely be sentenced to prison for the rest of his life. “The Office of Special Counsel is no longer bound by its obligations under the plea agreement, including its promise to support a reduction of the offense level,” Jackson wrote in her order. Manafort already has been convicted of eight charges of bank fraud and tax evasion following a trial last year in Alexandria, Va., and he has pleaded guilty to two additional charges of conspiracy. Advertisement All the charges involve Manafort’s work for the Russian-backed president in Ukraine — before he joined Trump’s campaign — and subsequent allegations of attempted witness tampering. The legal battle over whether Manafort lied to prosecutors — his defense team denied it — revealed new clues about Mueller’s closely guarded investigation into meetings and other contacts between Trump’s campaign aides and Russians during the 2016 presidential race. A courtroom sketch of Paul Manafort standing before U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson. (Dana Verkouteren / Associated Press) A partially redacted document filed by Manafort’s lawyers disclosed that he shared polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian-born associate who worked with Manafort in Ukraine. Prosecutors say Kilimnik has ties to Russian intelligence, an allegation he has denied. In addition, the relationship between Manafort and Kilimnik was extensively discussed in a closed court hearing on Feb. 4. “This goes, I think, very much to the heart of what the special counsel’s office is investigating,” Andrew Weissman, a top Mueller deputy, told the judge. A heavily redacted transcript was released after the hearing. Weissman did not elaborate, but he cited a meeting between Manafort and Kilimnik at a cigar club in New York City on Aug. 2, 2016. “That meeting and what happened at that meeting is of significance to the special counsel,” he said. Advertisement The meeting took place less than two weeks after Trump had accepted his party’s presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention and about two weeks before Manafort resigned from the Trump campaign over questions about his work in Ukraine. Richard Gates, Manafort’s deputy at the time, also attended the meeting. Gates initially was named in the same indictment as Manafort, but he later pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and lying to investigators, and he has been cooperating with prosecutors. Manafort’s conversations with Kilimnik were one of five topics that prosecutors said Manafort lied about. The judge agreed with prosecutors on three of the five that Manafort “intentionally made false statements,” including on conversations involving Kilimnik.<doc-sep>CEO of ADL: Seeing a 'blitzkrieg of anti-Jewish' acts across US Dana Bash: This is so telling about where the Republican party is NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 24: Trump Tower stands on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on August 24, 2018 in New York City. Following new allegations over hush money that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen paid to an adult-film actress, the Manhattan district attorneyÕs office in New York City may seek criminal charges against the Trump Organization in the coming days. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Why GOP is standing in the way of Capitol riot investigation WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 08: US Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-VA) remarks on the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the US Capitol November 8, 2006 in Washington, DC. Warner said he supports President George W. Bush's nomination of former CIA Director Robert Gates for Secretary of Defense. Warner said he anticipates Gates' confirmation before the end of the year. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), joined by Senate Assistant Minority Leader John Thune (R-SD) (L) and Senate Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), speaks following a Senate Republican Policy luncheon at the Russell Senate Office Building on May 18, 2021 in Washington, DC. Hear what Matt Gaetz said about Paul Ryan before his speech Former GOP senator: If McConnell said this, 'it's shameful' 'Some people have no shame': Biden calls out GOP lawmakers with list (CNN) — Paul Manafort “intentionally” lied to special counsel Robert Mueller’s office, breaking the plea agreement that made him the star cooperator in the Russia probe, a federal judge found on Wednesday. Manafort “made multiple false statements to the FBI, the OSC and the grand jury concerning matters that were material to the investigation,” including his contacts with his Russian associate during the campaign and later, Judge Amy Berman Jackson wrote on Wednesday. Read: Judge rules on Manafort plea deal Jackson’s ruling is another stunning turn in Mueller’s efforts to uncover Russian interference in the 2016 election, as the first man the special counsel indicted then pursued as a potential cooperator for a year sees the end of any benefits he tried to gain through a guilty plea. Manafort was convicted of various financial crimes in August, and then cut the deal to plead guilty to two charges of conspiracy and witness tampering in September. In all, Jackson determined Manafort intentionally lied about $125,000 he received for the legal bills, about another unnamed Justice Department criminal investigation and about his interactions with his longtime Russian associate Konstantin Kilimnik while he was campaign chairman and later. Jackson noted twice in her order that two of the topics Paul Manafort lied about, Kilimnik and payments he received for his legal bills were “material to the investigation.” Manafort is still bound by what he agreed to in the plea, so he will not be able to retract his guilty pleas. But the finding frees Mueller’s office from its contractual obligations in the plea, like asking for a reduced sentence for him because of his cooperation. Mueller spokesman Peter Carr declined to comment. Manafort’s lawyers have maintained that he did not intentionally lie. The judge reviewed extensive transcripts and evidence that would give her a window into Mueller’s work, and her ruling shows that Manafort’s lies were serious enough to disrupt his cooperation. Jackson said the special counsel’s office did not fully show that he had “intentionally made false statements” on two fronts where prosecutors alleged he lied: about his interactions with White House officials or about Kilimnik’s role in an attempt to influence witnesses, which Manafort admitted to doing in his plea. Prosecutors have said they don’t have plans at this time to bring additional charges against Manafort. But the finding Wednesday that Manafort misled prosecutors brings additional detractions into his upcoming sentencings. He will ultimately receive two sentences that could total decades in prison, one for the financial convictions and one for the guilty plea. Jackson is scheduled to deliver the first sentence on March 13. Manafort has been in jail for eight months already. The two judges who will sentence Manafort will weigh, among other things, whether he has accepted responsibility for his actions. Prosecutors and the defense team hashed out what happened in Manafort’s interviews at a four-and-a-half hour sealed court hearing last week, then again in a closed hour-and-45 minute hearing Wednesday afternoon. During the first sealed hearing, prosecutors described an August 2, 2016, meeting Manafort had with Kilimnik, according to a transcript released later. At that 2016 meeting, prosecutors and the defense team conflict over whether then-campaign chairman Manafort discussed a plan with Kilimnik about Ukrainian peace, which could have had ramifications on US sanctions against Russia. Some of the contact Mueller and news outlets have exposed since 2016 between Russians and Trump campaign officials have focused on sanctions, like the Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 with campaign leaders and Michael Flynn’s calls with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.<doc-sep>A month later he pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy against the US and one charge of conspiracy to obstruct justice in a plea bargain with Mr Mueller. The agreement avoided a second trial on money laundering and other charges.<doc-sep>
WASHINGTON—A federal judge ruled Wednesday that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort lied to investigators about his contact with an associate the FBI has linked to Russian intelligence despite agreeing to a plea deal requiring him to tell the truth. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in a four-page order that the government met its burden of proof in showing that Mr. Manafort intentionally misled investigators on at least three matters. Her ruling voids the government’s obligations under the agreement to offer him leniency in exchange for his cooperation in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. The ruling—which also said the government didn’t persuade the court that Mr. Manafort lied on two other issues—is another blow to the long-time political consultant who earned tens of millions of dollars advising politicians in Ukraine. It means that Mr. Manafort, who is already facing eight or more years in prison, potentially faces a longer punishment when he is sentenced next month. In particular, the judge ruled that Mr. Manafort lied about his communications with Konstantin Kilimnik, as well as payments to a law firm, and that he made false statements relevant to another, unspecified Justice Department investigation. Mr. Kilimnik, who remains at large but is believed to be in Russia, worked with Mr. Manafort for years on his Ukraine work and oversaw the Kiev office of Mr. Manafort’s consulting firm. At a sealed hearing last week, a prosecutor in Mr. Mueller’s office described Mr. Manafort’s contacts with Mr. Kilimnik as at “the heart” of what the special counsel is investigating, noting the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s assessment that Mr. Kilimnik had a “relationship with Russian intelligence.” Mr. Mueller’s office previously charged Mr. Kilimnik with helping Mr. Manafort try to influence potential witnesses in the investigation. It wasn’t clear whether the full investigation into communications between Messrs. Kilimnik and Manafort could move forward without Mr. Manafort’s cooperation. The decision does mean that Mr. Manafort won’t receive any credit for his cooperation with prosecutors. Mr. Manafort was convicted of tax and bank fraud in a Virginia trial last year and pleaded guilty in Washington soon after to additional, related charges. In her Wednesday order, Judge Berman Jackson also ruled the government had failed to prove that Mr. Manafort lied about Mr. Kilimnik’s role in any potential conspiracy to obstruct justice. She also ruled that the government didn’t prove that Mr. Manafort lied about his contacts with the Trump administration. Mr. Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, was found to have lied about his contacts with a Russian figure linked to Kremlin intelligence. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Associated Press Prosecutors had contended that Mr. Manafort had repeatedly told “multiple discernible lies” just weeks after he pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate in the Mueller investigation. In a closed-door hearing last week, Judge Berman Jackson had questions for prosecutors over their allegations. “I’m not sure that is something that a prosecutor would prosecute as a criminal false statement necessarily,” Judge Berman Jackson said at that hearing, referring to one of the allegations, according to heavily redacted transcripts. Prosecutor Andrew Weissmann told the judge that several of Mr. Manafort’s alleged lies involved issues core to the special prosecutor’s inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election and any links to the Trump campaign. He also said Mr. Manafort had motives to mislead investigators and deliberately conceal information. Mr. Manafort was one of the few targets of Mr. Mueller’s investigation to fight charges in court, but that effort has been largely unsuccessful. Just two months after he reached his September plea agreement, prosecutors accused Mr. Manafort of breaching his plea deal and said he had lied many times over the course of his dozen sessions with investigators and before the grand jury. Mr. Manafort’s attorneys have denied that he intentionally lied to prosecutors. Instead they have blamed his alleged misstatements on a faulty memory and his lack of access to relevant documents and evidence before his multiple meetings with prosecutors. The case against Mr. Manafort was related to his political consulting work in Ukraine for pro-Russian politicians that predated his work with the Trump campaign. In responding to the allegations, Mr. Manafort’s attorneys also inadvertently disclosed last month that Mr. Manafort gave 2016 polling data to Mr. Kilimnik, and may have discussed a peace plan for Ukraine with him. At the hearing, prosecutors also discussed a poll in Ukraine that Mr. Manafort assisted on and about which he allegedly misled investigators.