Late Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that former campaign chairman for President Trump, Paul Manafort, “is in talks with the special counsel’s office about a possible plea deal, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.” Wednesday afternoon ABC News, reported similar.
Both media outlets are reporting that the negations may not lead to cooperation with the special counsel’s office in regards to offering testimony against President Trump or other campaign staff regarding Russian collusion or Obstruction of Justice.
Neither the special counsel’s office nor Manafort’s defense team offered comment to either news outlet.
As The News Blender reported in August, Manafort was convicted on eight counts of tax evasion and bank fraud, with the Alexandria, Virginia Judge T.S. Ellis, declaring a mistrial on ten of the charges, when the jury failed to reach verdicts for those ten counts.
Shortly after his conviction in late August, The Wall Street Journal reported that Manafort had sought a deal with prosecutors in hopes of resolving the second set of charges against Manafort in Washington, D.C. during jury deliberations for his first trial that was held in Virginia, but the talks stalled, “over issues raised by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, one of the people said. It isn’t clear what those issues were, and the proposed terms of the plea deal couldn’t immediately be determined.”
Courthouse News reported Wednesday that despite the talks between Manafort and prosecutors, the government pushed ahead preparing for a pretrial hearing that had been originally scheduled for Wednesday, but was postponed until Friday. According to Courthouse News, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, did not offer a reason for the postponement.
Manafort’s second trial in D.C., where he faces charges of conspiracy and money laundering, among other things, is set to start on September 24th, with jury selection set for Monday.
