In a partially redacted post-hearing memo filed Wednesday morning, attorney Richard Westling with Epstein Becker says the special counsel overstated what the factual record shows. That deal came to a halt, however, when prosecutors accused him of breaching its terms by lying during his cooperation sessions.įor his part, Manafort insists he did not lie about how many times he discussed Ukrainian policy with Kilimnik. Manafort had agreed as part of his guilty plea to cooperate with the special counsel's investigation. In Washington, Manafort pleaded to conspiring to defraud the United States, obstruction of justice and violations of lobbying laws in relation to work he did on behalf of a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine, including former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Manafort pleaded guilty in Washington to head off a second criminal trial after a federal jury in Virginia found him guilty last year of various financial crimes. Weissmann continued: "This goes, I think, very much to the heart of what the Special Counsel's Office is investigating." 2 meeting, Weissmann told Jackson at last week's closed hearing that the pair met several times in 2017 – including once in Washington, D.C., during Trump’s inauguration – and last year as well.Įxplaining the significance of Manafort's dishonesty about the nature of his contacts with Kilimnik, Weissmann told Judge Jackson last week that it "goes to the larger view of what we think is going on, and what the motive here is." Though Manafort told prosecutors the last time they discussed the topic was during the Aug. Manafort meanwhile is also accused of having lied about the number of times he discussed the topic with Kilimnik, whom Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted in his probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. ![]() 2 meeting aside from Ukrainian policy and a plan to end the conflict there. Less than two weeks prior to the meeting, Trump had secured the Republican nomination, and WikiLeaks had published thousand of emails Russian hackers stole from the Democratic National Committee.īecause of transcript redactions, it is unclear what Manafort, Gates and Kilimnik discussed at the Aug. Prosecutors contend that Manafort lied about the meeting, which took place at the Grand Havana Room in New York City, not far from the Trump campaign's headquarters at Trump Tower. "That meeting and what happened at that meeting is of significance to the special counsel," Weissmann added. The meeting took place "at an unusual time" for the head of a presidential campaign, prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said, according to the transcript. ![]() 2, 2016, meeting between Manafort, his campaign deputy Rick Gates and Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian political operative who prosecutors say is tied to Russian intelligence. "Time to go to the bar," defense attorney Kevin Downing joked as he left the courtroom.Ī transcript of a sealed hearing from last week shows that prosecutors are focused on an Aug. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, neither Manafort's attorneys nor prosecutors with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office offered a statement when the hearing concluded this afternoon. ![]() Without a transcript of the proceedings, it is uncertain how long the public must wait to learn Manafort’s fate.Īlready bound by a gag order issued by U.S. WASHINGTON (CN) - Behind closed doors during a sealed hearing, a federal judge likely decided Wednesday whether former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort breached his cooperation deal by lying to prosecutors.
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