Paul Manafort's guilty plea in the District of Columbia makes perfect sense.
There was nothing to be gained for Manafort or Special Counsel Robert Mueller in a second trial.
Naturally, the media are spun up because the plea agreement, which will cap the 69-year-old Manafort's prison time at ten years, requires Manafort's cooperation.
You have to figure Gates knows whatever Manafort knows about collusion.
So prosecutors dropped the money-laundering charges as well as allegations that Manafort made false statements and failed to register as a foreign agent of a Kremlin-connected Ukranian party; but Mueller still got Manafort to admit to the underlying conduct in those charges by having the defendant plead guilty to the special counsel's favorite device, the amorphous, elastic charge of "Conspiracy against the United States." In addition, Manafort pled guilty to obstructing justice - the witness-tampering allegation based on which he has been detained without bail.
If Manafort cooperates to Mueller's satisfaction, these unresolved counts will be dismissed; but the admissions would make it difficult for Manafort to fight the charges if they were ever retried.
The resolution of Manafort's cases in a manner that spares both parties a second trial and months of appeals closes an important chapter in the special counsel's investigation.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/09/paul-manaforts-guilty-plea/
There was nothing to be gained for Manafort or Special Counsel Robert Mueller in a second trial.
Naturally, the media are spun up because the plea agreement, which will cap the 69-year-old Manafort's prison time at ten years, requires Manafort's cooperation.
You have to figure Gates knows whatever Manafort knows about collusion.
So prosecutors dropped the money-laundering charges as well as allegations that Manafort made false statements and failed to register as a foreign agent of a Kremlin-connected Ukranian party; but Mueller still got Manafort to admit to the underlying conduct in those charges by having the defendant plead guilty to the special counsel's favorite device, the amorphous, elastic charge of "Conspiracy against the United States." In addition, Manafort pled guilty to obstructing justice - the witness-tampering allegation based on which he has been detained without bail.
If Manafort cooperates to Mueller's satisfaction, these unresolved counts will be dismissed; but the admissions would make it difficult for Manafort to fight the charges if they were ever retried.
The resolution of Manafort's cases in a manner that spares both parties a second trial and months of appeals closes an important chapter in the special counsel's investigation.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/09/paul-manaforts-guilty-plea/
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