Henry Rodgers on September 14, 2018
Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort reportedly struck a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller.
“The court has scheduled an arraignment and plea agreement hearing today for U.S. v. Paul J. Manafort, Jr., 69, of Alexandria, Va., at 11 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson at the D.C. federal courthouse on 3rd and Constitution,” according to an email from the Special Counsel Press office.
Manafort and Mueller were reportedly getting close to a reaching a deal Thursday night, but did not until Friday morning. The jury selection for the D.C. trial will start Monday, according to CNBC.
“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 an emailed statement.
The news comes just weeks after a federal jury in Virginia found Manafort guilty on eight counts of tax evasion and bank fraud. Manafort is also scheduled to go to trial in Washington, D.C., in September on charges that he acted as an unregistered foreign agent in his Ukraine work.
It is unclear at this point what Manafort and the special counsel have agreed to.
(This post may be updated as more information becomes available.)
