News

Judge voids Paul Manafort’s plea deal for ‘intentionally’ lying to Mueller

Paul Manafort lied to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office and a federal grand jury while being questioned about the Trump 2016 presidential campaign’s alleged ties to Russia, a judge ruled Wednesday.

The findings breach Manafort’s plea agreement with federal prosecutors and will likely hurt his chances of receiving a reduced sentence next month, US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said.

Judge Berman Jackson said there is a “preponderance” of evidence that Manafort lied on a number of subjects, including about his meetings with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian political consultant and former Manafort business partner.

Mueller alleged that Manafort lied about the number of times he met with Kilimnik to discuss the U.S. lifting sanctions on Russia, a top priority of Moscow.

Berman Jackson said Manafort “intentionally made multiple false statements to the FBI, the (office of special counsel) and the grand jury concerning matters that were material to the investigation,” CNN reported.





Manafort’s lawyers argue he never intentionally lied to prosecutors and corrected his testimony once false statements were highlighted to him.

With Post wires





Share this: