Breaking! Manafort apparently reaches some sort of plea deal!

[manor321]

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/tentative-deal-reached-manafort-special-counsel-sources/story?id=57809113

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has tentatively agreed to a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller that will head off his upcoming trial, sources familiar with the negotiations tell ABC News.

The deal is expected to be announced in court Friday, but it remains unclear whether Manafort has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors or is simply conceding to a guilty plea, which would allow him to avoid the stress and expense of trial, according to three sources with knowledge of the discussions.

EDIT:

Commentary from Seth Abramson:

Whatever Manafort offered Mueller—maybe it was small, maybe it was big, no sense in speculating—was something at least for now the parties do *not* want public. But media saying that the basis for the plea deal was to save Manafort "stress and expense"... no. Just no. Stop it.

Link to tweet

[AndJusticeForSome]

1. Well this is interesting

Can't wait to learn more details.

[Tom Rinaldo]

2. This could be bad if he is not cooperating

It avoids evidence being introduced at trial and all the negative news coverage. If he is NOT cooperating if could just pave the way for Trump pardons.

[grantcart]

5. Not correct. Even if he does not cooperate he still has to allocute

And give statements under oath on key facts pertaining to his guilty plea.

He can still be called as a witness and won't have a 5th amendment protection for actions he has plead guilty to.

[manor321]

6. That all sounds pretty good. :) n/t

[grantcart]

21. Yes BUT he only has to address what he is charged with.

If he cooperated then he would have to tell everything else.

Also when he allocutes he doesn't have to implicate anyone.

[Caliman73]

15. True. Like Cohen, where he admitted that he was directed by a "candidate for Federal office"

to break the law.


The thing is, Mueller is too much of a prosecutor and has too many "angry Democrats" working for him to do something as stupid as going soft or helping Manafort to game the system.

[Tom Rinaldo]

18. Thanks. A bettter scenario than I thought...

But without suggesting he be denied his right to avoid a trial and plead guilty instead, a trial were one to go forward would entail hours and hours of coverage and exposure that I believe could help educate the public to the scope and nature of the misdeeds undertaken to the greatest degree possible. There is a political as well as legal dimension to the outcome of these charges and the entire Mueller investigation, as Trump's side well understands.

[grantcart]

22. He can still be called to testify at someone else's trial

He can still be charged for other crimes.

[Hortensis]

23. Thanks, Grantcart. I didn't remember all this stuff,

and just figured people shouldn't be worrying that Mueller doesn't know his job.

[lindysalsagal]

3. Conceivable that he could provide ecidence and we'd never know.

No reason it has to be publicly revealed.

[Gothmog]

4. Rep Ted Lieu-MOST SUCCESSFUL WITCH HUNT IN US HISTORY

Link to tweet

[LandOfHopeAndDreams]

7. I Don't Like This At All

Mueller is supposedly operating from a position of enormous strength. I do not see why he would negotiate any deal unless it provides him something of extreme value.

If this SOB Manafort escapes justice, without coming forward with information relating to Drumpf, it will be a travesty.

Again, I don't see why Mueller would negotiate with this criminal, and it worries me.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. If Manafort pleads guilty he has to confess in open court

to the crimes he's pleading guilty to. And if he's pardoned he no longer has 5th Amendment protection and could be required to testify under oath as a witness.

[uponit7771]

12. He could have his sentence commuted

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. He could.

But he could still be on the hook for state crimes.

[uponit7771]

19. Yep this, should be part of the plea deal

[Johnny2X2X]

10. Not so fast

Remember Cohen's plea deal? Where he took a deal as "not cooperating"? Manafort gave him something or promised to give him something valuable enough to cut this deal. And he's likely taking prison time still.

Giuliani saying they aren't worried means, "THEY ARE REALLY WORRIED!" People have to pick up on the fact that this group lies out of instinct and say the opposite of what the truth is almost without fail.

Trump will go on a Tweet storm soon enough to confirm how much this freaks him out.

[Caliman73]

16. Let me ask...

So you are thinking that after 18 months of relentless pursuit, running such a tight ship that there are virtually no leaks in what amounts to the most significant investigation in the last 30 years of presidential history, that Mueller is suddenly just going to say, "Okay screw it, let them off easy" is that what you are thinking?

You are thinking that Mueller just suddenly, after going through the trouble of bringing the indictments and setting up two different trials is just, for the heck of it saying, "yeah let's just make the worst possible deal with this guy" ?

You think that if Trump's people had something that severely weakened Mueller's position to negotiate, that they wouldn't have pasted it on every news outlet and Trump wouldn't be Tweeting is to high heaven?


In other words. Relax a bit. Let's see how this plays out.

[Gothmog]

8. From my twitter feed

Link to tweet

[Gothmog]

11. Manafort may be locking in a pardon

Link to tweet

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

14. What if the state of New York prosecutes him for financial crimes?

A presidential pardon and $3 will get him a venti latte at Starbucks.

[Gothmog]

17. The tax case will be in Virginia which is where he filed state taxes

A pardon is of no use for state charges

[standingtall]

20. I would think that Mueller could ask the State of New York to

drop charges against Manafort as a courtesy if he were to cooperate and if what he has is good enough the request might be honored.

[Gothmog]

24. The Virginia AG is Democrat

Mueller could cut a deal with the VA AG https://ballotpedia.org/Mark_Herring