“I plead guilty,” Paul Manafort told U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson.
Manafort pleaded guilty to two federal charges today in a deal that includes cooperation with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation
Judge Jackson said in court that Manafort has agreed to submit to interviews with the special counsel, testify in any future cases and provide related documents.
According to the plea agreement, Manafort must cooperate “fully, truthfully, completely, and forthrightly” with the Justice Department in any and all matters that the government finds his cooperation to be relevant.
Manafort has also agreed to forfeit several properties, including an apartment at Trump Tower in New York, and the current funds held in several bank accounts.
Manafort gave the guilty plea on one count of conspiracy against the United States and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice by witness tampering.
The sentencing guidelines indicate Manafort could face between 210 to 262 months in prison for the crimes.
Mueller filed a superseding criminal information earlier on Friday laying out a series of allegations related to Manafort’s work lobbying on behalf of pro-Russia forces in Ukraine that had already been charged in previous court filings.
Prosecutors allege that Manafort, conspiring with his former business partner Richard Gates and Russian associate Konstantin Kilimnik, illegally lobbied on behalf of a foreign government by failing to register as a foreign agent.
Prosecutors also allege that Manafort laundered more than $30 million from his work to buy property and other items in the United States, evading more than $15 million in taxes.
By pleading guilty, Manafort is admitting to all of the alleged crimes with which he is charged that were related to his foreign lobbying efforts. He is also admitting guilt to 10 bank and tax fraud charges that a jury could not reach a consensus on in his August trial in Virginia, though he will not be charged on those counts as part of the plea agreement.
The guilty plea will allow Manafort to avert a second trial in Washington, D.C., stemming from Mueller’s probe. He faced seven separate charges in that case, including failing to register as a lobbyist for a foreign country, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and obstructing justice for witness tampering. Kilimnik was charged alongside Manafort in June with conspiracy to obstruct justice, but is unlikely to see his day in court because he is Russian and therefore out of reach of U.S. prosecutors.
President Trump’s legal team put out an initial statement that said: “the President did nothing wrong and Paul Manafort will tell the truth.” Minutes later, they put out a new statement that said simply: “the President did nothing wrong.”
“Nobody should underestimate how much Paul Manafort did to really help get this campaign to where it is right now.” –Newt Gingrich, August 19, 2016 on Fox News