Manafort’s defenders have long insisted that he would not cooperate with Mueller, and didn’t know any incriminating information against the president. Prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said at the beginning of Friday’s plea hearing that Manafort had agreed to cooperate with investigators. A plea deal that could put the Russians inside Trump’s campaign blows to smithereens the notion that only low-level, non-players or those distantly related to the campaign had Russian connections. Trump, who was praising Manafort to the heavens just weeks ago, will find it hard (but not impossible) to now smear him as a liar. As part of the plea deal, Manafort is going to cough up $46 million in forfeited assets, according to news reports.

Source: Washington Post September 14, 2018 17:42 UTC