Paul Manafort guilty on financial crimes, Michael Cohen cuts a plea deal, but still no links to Russia
President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been found guilty on eight counts of financial crimes, a major victory for special counsel Robert Mueller, who has still failed to link the campaign to the rumored Russian collusion.
Additionally, Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, cut a plea deal in New York, pleading guilty to tax evasion, falsifying submissions to a bank and campaign finance violations.
photo via Pixabay user Succo
Judge T.S. Ellis declared a mistrial on ten counts against Manafort, guilty on tax fraud charges, one charge of hiding foreign bank accounts and two counts of bank fraud. He faces a maximum of 80 years in prison.
Landing in Charleston, West Virginia, Trump said that the charges Manafort was convicted of on Tuesday have “nothing to do with Russian collusion” and criticized Mueller’s investigation for arriving at this point.
“Mr. Manafort is disappointed of not getting acquittals all the way through or a complete hung jury on all counts,” Manafort’s lawyer Kevin Downing told reporters. “However, he would like to thank Judge Ellis for granting him a fair trial, thank the jury for their very long and hard-fought deliberations. He is evaluating all of his options at this point. Thank you everyone.”
“Mr. Manafort lied to keep more money when he had it, and he lied to get more money when he didn’t,” prosecutor Greg Andres told jurors during closing arguments. “This is a case about lies.”
Manafort, 69, has been in jail since June after his bail was revoked following new charges of witness tampering against him.
Cohen’s plea and claim that he acted at the president’s direction to payoff a former Playboy model is the only real implication of the president himself.
