US judge finds Paul Manafort lied to FBI and Robert Mueller in Russia probe, hurting his chances of reduced prison sentence
- Former Trump aide breached plea deal by making false statements about dealings with alleged Russian operative
- Mueller’s team and analysts say Manafort may have lied to protect Trump in hopes of getting a pardon
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort could face a much longer prison sentence than expected after a Washington judge ruled Wednesday that he had broken his plea deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Federal district judge Amy Berman Jackson agreed with prosecutors that Manafort had “intentionally” lied to investigators about his contacts with a suspected Russian operative, Konstantin Kilimnik in 2016 and 2017, despite having pledged to cooperate as part of his September plea agreement.
Jackson also ruled that Manafort had lied about a secretive payment he made to a law firm, and lied on another occasion when investigators queried him about a separate, still secret investigation related to the Mueller probe.
The ruling meant that Mueller no longer has to abide by the deal, in which Manafort agreed to plead guilty to two reduced conspiracy charges, carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
It could also elevate whatever punishment arises from the 69-year-old’s guilty verdict in a separate jury trial last year in Virginia.