U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller may provide new details on Friday on how two of President Donald Trump’s closest former aides have helped or hindered his investigation into possible collusion between Russia and Trump’s 2016 election campaign.
Mueller last month accused Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, of breaching a plea bargain agreement by lying to prosecutors, and will submit information on those alleged lies in a filing to a Federal Court in Washington.
The filing could shed new light on Manafort’s business dealings or his consulting for pro-Kremlin interests in Ukraine.
Manafort, who maintains he has been truthful with Mueller, managed Trump’s campaign for three months in 2016.
Also on Friday, Mueller’s office and the U.S. attorney from the Southern District of New York are to file sentencing memos on Michael Cohen, Trump’s former private lawyer.
Cohen pleaded guilty to financial crimes in Federal Court in New York in August, and last week he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in a Mueller case. Sentencing for both of those cases will be handled by one judge.
Mueller may disclose new information to supplement Cohen’s admission last week that he sought help from the Kremlin for a Trump skyscraper in Moscow late into the 2016 campaign.
We will be doing a major Counter Report to the Mueller Report. This should never again be allowed to happen to a future President of the United States!
—@realDonaldTrump
Mueller’s probe has infuriated Trump, who has regularly issued tweets criticizing Mueller and his team. The president has denied any collusion between his team and Russia, and accuses Mueller’s prosecutors of pressuring his former aides to lie about him, his election campaign and his business dealings.
The president has called Cohen a “weak person” and excoriated what he calls “flipping,” when defendants opt to co-operate with prosecutors.
Trump lashed out in new tweets early Friday, again questioning prosecutors, and accusing federal investigators and senior officials of having conflicts of interest without offering any evidence.
President Donald Trump didn’t comment on the Mueller probe while speaking to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House Friday, saving his invective about the investigation for social media. (Evan Vucci/Associated Press)
He said his legal team would prepare a rebuttal report to whatever is produced by Mueller, who in May 2017 was given the brief investigating “any links and/or co-ordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.”
Representatives for the U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Special Counsel’s Office declined to comment on Trump’s tweets.
Flynn co-operation viewed favourably
The filings on Cohen and Manafort follow a sentencing memo earlier this week regarding Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.
In the memo, Mueller praised Flynn for providing “substantial” co-operation and argued that he should receive no prison time, a move widely seen by legal experts as a message to other would-be co-operators that assistance would be rewarded.
Cohen hopes prosecutors make a similar recommendation, emphasizing in a court filing last week that his decision to co-operate came in the face of fierce criticism by Trump of Mueller’s probe.
Cohen’s lawyers also argued that celebrities engaged in similar tax evasion cases — one of the core charges against him — have faced only civil penalties. The lawyers said his financial crimes were unsophisticated, noting no overseas accounts were used.
Michael Flynn, shown at the White House during his brief time as national security adviser, resigned after revelations about his contacts with Russian officials during the transition, and was subsequently charged with lying to the FBI. (Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press)
Manafort, in addition to allegedly lying to Mueller, was convicted in a separate case in Virginia for a sophisticated bank and tax fraud scheme that included tens of millions of dollars in payments for his work in Ukraine.
Trump’s reaction Friday prompted a social media response from critic Adam Schiff, the Democratic congressman from California, who called it a “meltdown.”
What Trump is saying: It’s a witch hunt. We will have our own report. Mueller is bad. Comey is worse. Rosenstein is no picnic. Why don’t they go after Hillary and Brennan, anyone but me?<br><br>What he means: When Mueller’s report comes, it will be bad.<br><br>Why he says it: Meltdown.
—@RepAdamSchiff
In addition to Trump’s denials, Russia has claimed it did not attempt to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, although Mueller’s investigation has led to the indictment of over two-dozen Russian individuals and entities.
Also Friday, the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed that George Papadopoulos, the first person sent to prison in the Russia investigation, was released after serving his 14-day sentence.
The former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser pleaded guilty last year to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian intermediaries. Those contacts during the presidential campaign prompted the FBI in July 2016 to open a counterintelligence investigation. That investigation was later taken over by Mueller.
So far, Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has resisted calls from colleagues to use legislation to theoretically protect Mueller from firing.
In addition to the Mueller probe, the Trump administration will face more inquiries when the Democrats take control of the House in January. The party’s leadership has promised to vigorously pursue areas of investigation into Trump’s finances and Trump team contacts with foreign actors, having accused the Republicans of choosing party loyalty over proper oversight the past two years.