Judge voids Paul Manafort’s plea deal for ‘intentionally’ lying to Mueller

Paul Manafort lied to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office and a federal grand jury while being questioned about the Trump 2016 presidential campaign’s alleged ties to Russia, a judge ruled Wednesday. The findings breach Manafort’s plea agreement with federal prosecutors and will likely hurt his chances of receiving a reduced sentence next month, US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said. Judge Berman Jackson said there is a “preponderance” of evidence that Manafort lied on a number of subjects, including about his meetings with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian political consultant and former Manafort business partner. Mueller alleged that Manafort lied about the number of times he met with Kilimnik to discuss the U.S. lifting sanctions on Russia, a top priority of Moscow. Berman Jackson said Manafort “intentionally made multiple false statements to the FBI, the (office of special counsel) and the grand jury concerning matters that were material to the investigation,” CNN reported.

https://nypost.com/2019/02/13/judge-voids-paul-manaforts-plea-deal-for-intentionally-lying-to-fbi/amp/

>>5162821

Indeed

Chicago Confirmed As Most Corrupt US City

According to a newly published report from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Department of Political Science, the most corrupt big city in the US is the Chicago metropolitan area. The findings are based on the Department of Justice (DOJ) criminal data on corruption arrests from 1976 through 2017. The report reveals that the Northern District of Illinois, which includes the Chicago metropolitan area, saw 1,731 convictions for public corruption in the last four decades. As a whole, the State of Illinois recorded 2,102 convictions for public corruption in the same timespan. Along with Chicago, California (Los Angeles) topped the list with 1,534 convictions, New York (Manhattan) with 1,327 convictions, Florida (Miami) with 1,165 convictions, and the District of Columbia with 1,159 convictions.

Dick Simpson, head of UIC’s political science department, authored the report. “For a long time — going back at least to the Al Capone era — Chicago and Illinois have been known for high levels of public corruption,” Simpson said. “But now we have statistics that confirm their dishonorable and notorious reputations.… The two worst crime zones in Illinois are the Governor’s Mansion in Springfield and the City Council Chambers in Chicago.” Thirty Chicago City Council members have been charged in corruption cases since the 1970s, with Edward M. Burke, the mayor of the 14th Ward of the City of Chicago, becoming the latest politician to be charged with one count of attempted extortion in early January for allegedly trying to use his political power to solicit business for his private law firm, CBS Chicago reported. Although Chicago accounts for 82% of the state’s corruption convictions, according to the report, federal corruption is also rampant statewide. On a per capita basis, Illinois ranked third for the most corrupt state in the US. In 2017, the state had 34 convictions for public corruption. California, Florida, New York and Texas all had more public corruption convictions than Illinois, but those states have larger populations, as per the report, ranked lower on a per capita basis.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-02-13/chicago-most-corrupt-us-city-report

Google Announces $13 Billion Plan To Expand Data Centers, Office Space Across US

After Google-parent Alphabet more than doubled its capex spend in 2018, Google on Wednesday announced plans to spend $13 billion on data centers and office space in 14 states, including Nevada, Nebraska, Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Virginia. The company will hire tens of thousands of employees to work at the new facilities, while the projects will enable the creation of 10,000 new construction jobs. After the expansion is finished, Google will have infrastructure in 24 states, and data centers in 13 towns.

While Google's recent development spending has been focused on diversifying the business away from advertising, the company's intensive capex spending will likely continue being a concern for investors. Though only weeks ago Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat said the company's spending would "moderate quite significantly this year"…which would suggest that there won't be more announcements like this one coming in the near future.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-02-13/google-announces-13-billion-plan-expand-data-centers-office-space-across-us

>>5163118

I would appear to be that, but I have a feeling there could indeed be a plot twist..to this story.