From false testimony to ties with Russia: for what trump’s close associates face jail

New materials on the case of those involved in the so-called “Russiagate” have been published in the United States. We are talking about Paul Manafort, who headed Donald Trump's campaign headquarters, and Michael Cohen, who until recently worked as the president's personal lawyer. Both face prison terms, writes Air force.

Photo: twitter.com/realDonaldTrump

Office of Special Prosecutor Robert Muller, who is investigating Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election of the year and Trump's possible collusion with the Kremlin, has published documents revealing what exactly the special prosecutor accuses Manafort.

The former head of Trump's campaign faces up to 10 years in prison in the case of Russian interference. However, in another case - bank fraud and tax evasion - he could receive seven years in prison.

In turn, Muller sent a memorandum to the court of the Southern District of New York, prepared for the pronouncement of the sentence to Michael Cohen. It is scheduled for December 12.

At the same time, the prosecutor's office of New York published its own memorandum to the sentence of Cohen, requesting a real prison sentence for him. The ex-lawyer of the president faces from four to five years in prison, despite the fact that he admitted his guilt and cooperated with the investigation.

Bi-bi-si She studied Muller’s documents and the New York prosecutors ’offices and explains what the investigation came to and how it threatens the president.

Manafort was in contact with both Russia and the Trump administration. And about that, and about the other, he lied

Manafort is a participant in the most famous case of contacts between Trump’s entourage and people who could represent the interests of Russia.

In June 2016, at the height of the election campaign, he went to a meeting with Russian lobbyists and lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. The meeting was also attended by the son of the future president, Donald Trump Jr., and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

The intermediary who organized the meeting wrote to Trump Jr. that Veselnitskaya was going to bring “dirt on Hillary” [Clinton, the presidential candidate from the rival US Democratic Party] to this meeting.

Manafort made a deal with Special Prosecutor Muller in the fall. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy against US money laundering, tax fraud, hiding foreign bank accounts, violating the rules of registration as a foreign agent (talking about his work on the ex-president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych), and perjury and pressure on witnesses .

In exchange for commutation of the sentence, Manafort should have told the team of investigators led by Muller about a possible Trump team collusion with the Kremlin.

At the end of November, Muller announced that the former political consultant had broken the deal, having lied to the investigation. Now it turned out that, in the opinion of the special prosecutor, he concealed: although some fragments of Muller’s documents are classified, it is clear even from the open part what Manafort is accused of.

Didn’t talk about the meeting with his “Russian brain”

As follows from the documents, Manafort hid information about a meeting with his business partner Konstantin Kilimnik. Mueller suspects the latter of having connections with Russian intelligence.

Kilimnik has been called “Manafort’s right-hand man” and “Manafort’s own Manafort” in the media. The political strategist himself called Kilimnik his “Russian brain” - he was a contact person in Manafort’s negotiations with Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska during the 2016 presidential campaign.

According to Müller, Manafort at first denied that he communicated with Kilimnik, and then tried to hide the frequency of these contacts. The documents state that the facts of the meetings and communication of Manafor with Kilimnik were confirmed by the testimony of witnesses and electronic correspondence.

In addition, Manafort, being a defendant in the investigation of Muller, allegedly tried with the help of Kilimnik to ensure that two witnesses in the case of Russia's interference in the elections gave false testimony to the investigation.

Denied communication with the presidential administration

Having signed a cooperation agreement with the investigation, Manafort said that he had no direct or indirect relations with the Trump administration. He also claimed that he had not tried to convey any messages to officials in the White House. This turned out to be a lie, says Muller.

According to the special counsel, Manafort did have contact with the White House, including with a senior official in the Trump administration in February-May 2018. At that time, the political strategist was already under investigation.

The published documents state that Manafort’s lies were revealed during the examination of documents from Manafort’s electronic devices and the testimony of other witnesses.

It is unknown what Trump’s former chief of staff talked about with the presidential administration. Considering that Trump’s lawyers admitted that they communicate with Manafort’s lawyers, it cannot be ruled out that contacts with the White House also related to Mueller’s “Russia investigation” and attempts to protect Trump from it.

In addition to all of the above, says Muller, Manafort lied about the circumstances of the transfer of 125 thousands of dollars from one company associated with it to another, and also gave false testimony in another investigation of the Ministry of Justice.

“Manafort lied significantly on numerous occasions—this was not an accident and these were not lapses of memory,” Mueller’s team wrote.

Lawyers for the political strategist argued that Manafort gives true testimony. He himself also insists that he did not lie to the investigation.

The White House said Friday night that it saw nothing new in Mueller's documents and nothing that could harm Trump. “They are devoted almost entirely to issues related to lobbying activities. The media is trying to create a story where there is none,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said.

Trump has previously said several times in the media that he might pardon Manafort. He constantly calls the “Russian investigation” itself a “witch hunt.” The President stated that he could close it completely.

Trump's lawyer paid porn actresses for silence. Now he is waiting for prison

Trump's former lawyer admitted his guilt and entered into a plea deal. However, this will not help him avoid prison. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, which is prosecuting Cohen's case, asked for "a significant prison term" for him.

The lawyer expects from four to five years in prison. The memorandum sent to the court by the prosecutor’s office states that the prosecution also asked the court to confiscate 500 thousand US dollars from Cohen and impose a fine on him. The document also lists Cohen’s alleged crimes in detail.

Cohen was preparing Trump's trip to Russia and the construction of his tower in Moscow. Nothing happened, but he hid it from the investigation

Cohen previously admitted that in 2017 he lied to the Senate Intelligence Committee about Trump's lack of plans to build a Trump Tower skyscraper in Moscow. It turned out that during the presidential campaign in the United States in 2016, the lawyer tried to propose this project to the Kremlin through the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov. He was never able to talk to Peskov, but he communicated with his assistants.

Trump Tower, however, was never built in Moscow. In addition, it turned out that Cohen discussed with Trump the latter’s possible trip to Russia to meet with Vladimir Putin. This trip also never happened. Cohen's problem is that he hid all this information from the senators.

In turn, special counsel Mueller, in his own memorandum for sentencing Cohen, noted that he made “substantial efforts to correct his misconduct, accept responsibility for his actions” and help the investigation into Russian interference in the elections.

Cohen, according to the document, provided “up-to-date and truthful” information that should help the investigation. In addition to talking about contacts with people from Russia during the 2016 campaign and attempts by Russians to reach the Trump campaign, Cohen also admitted that he was in contact with people associated with the White House in 2017-2018. At that time he was already under investigation.

Cohen tried to pay women for and silence about the novels with Trump

In August, 2018, 52-year-old Cohen also pleaded guilty to financial fraud and banking frauds, as well as violating election laws. All the acts in which he admitted guilt are described in detail in the memorandum of the prosecutor’s office of the southern district of New York.

So, the lawyer paid the money intended for the campaign for the silence of two women who declared their close relationship with Trump.

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