Manafort FLIPS: Ex-campaign chair turns RAT on Trump as he pleads guilty in dramatic deal with Robert Mueller's prosecutors and agrees to meet special counsel WITHOUT his attorneys
Disgraced former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has made a deal to avoid a second trial on charges including money-laundering
He has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, according to statements in court
Pleaded guilty in federal court to two charges
Remaining charges to be dropped
He held face-to-face talks in Washington D.C. with Mueller's team to reach 'tentative' arrangement
To relinquish Trump Tower apartment purchased for $3.7 million
'This had absolutely nothing to do with the President or his victorious 2016 Presidential campaign. It is totally unrelated,' said the White House
Manafort was already convicted of bank and tax fraud after trial in Alexandria, VA, and faces spending the rest of his life in prison
President Trump isn't concerned about his former campaign chairman cutting a with special counsel Robert Mueller, his attorney Rudy Giuliani said
Trump and Manafort lawyers revealed to have a joint defense agreement
A deal could shorten his prison sentence or allow him to preserve financial assets
The indictment states that Manafort laundered more than $30 million to buy property and goods and 'cheated the United States out of over $15 million in taxes.'
Trump last month hailed Manafort as a 'brave man' for refusing to 'break'
Fourth guilty plea by a Trump campaign official
Former Donald Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort pleaded guilty to two federal criminal charges in a Washington D.C. courthouse Friday – and is now cooperating with federal prosecutors, according to the latest high-stakes turn in the case.
The stunning development that Manafort will assist prosecutors who went after him on a raft of money laundering and tax charges follows a series of earlier indications that Manafort would not cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller.
His cooperation, depending on the extent of it, could provide prosecutors with a valuable tool as they forge ahead with the Russia probe.
The existence of a cooperation was stated in court by a member of Mueller's team, Andrew Weissmann, CNN reported Friday.
President Donald Trump has railed against the Robert Mueller probe as a 'witch hunt' and has hailed Manafort as 'brave' for refusing to make a deal.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders issued a statement following the bombshell development in court.
'This had absolutely nothing to do with the President or his victorious 2016 Presidential campaign. It is totally unrelated,' Sanders said.
A cooperation agreement would bind Manafort to answering questions from prosecutors about the gamut of questions about what he knows as they pursue their probe of Russian election interference in the elections and connections between President Donald Trump's team and Russians.
Manafort attended the infamous Trump Tower meeting with Russian in June of 2016 that got set up after a British music publicist reached out to Donald Trump Jr. after getting an offer of dirt on Hillary Clinton.
Manafort also will be required to forfeit assets as part of the plea. Prosecutors say he deprived taxpayers of $15 million and laundered $30 million in assets. Manafort used overseas income to purchase homes in the U.S., then took out millions in bank loans to fund purchases here without declaring the money as income.
The feds will seize four of Manafort's homes and some of his funds, the New York Times reported.
Manafort has homes in Brooklyn, SoHo, Chinatown, a Trump Tower condo, a place in the Hamptons on Long island, a home in Alexandria Virginia, and a home in Florida.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6168327/Paul-Manafort-heads-court-prosecutors-file-superseding-indictment.html