Ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort violated plea deal by lying to FBI in Russia probe, US prosecutors say
- The torpedoing of Paul Manafort’s plea deal also results in Robert Mueller’s team losing a witness from the top of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign
- Breakdown comes at the same time that another cooperator in the Mueller investigation unsuccessfully sought to postpone his jail term
US President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort violated his plea agreement by lying to investigators, prosecutors said, as another former aide began serving a jail sentence for making false statements to the FBI.
Manafort had agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia as part of a plea deal in September.
“After signing the plea agreement, Manafort committed federal crimes by lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Special Counsel’s Office on a variety of subject matters, which constitute breaches of the agreement,” prosecutors said in a court filing.
“A breach relieves the government of any obligations it has under the agreement.”
In the same joint status report filing, Manafort’s legal team pushed back against the government’s assertion.
“Manafort has provided information to the government in an effort to live up to his cooperation obligations,” it said.