U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled on Wednesday that former campaign Chairman for President Trump, Paul Manafort, knowingly lied to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Office, the FBI, and the grand jury regarding three separate matters.
In her four page order, Judge Jackson writes that the Special Counsel’s Office did make “its determination that the defendant made false statements,” breaching the plea deal “in good faith, therefore, the Office of Special Counsel, is no longer bound by its obligations under the plea agreement, including its promise to support a reduction of the offense
level in the calculation of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines for acceptance of responsibility.”
She goes on to list the five instances that the Special Counsel believes Manafort “intentionally,” made “false statements,” finding that he did intentionally lied on three matters, while she believed the government did not prove that Manafort intentionally mislead on two other occasions.
According to the Judge’s order:
I. OSC has established by a preponderance of the evidence that defendant
intentionally made false statements to the FBI, the OSC, and the grand jury concerning the payment by Firm A to the law firm, a matter that was material to the investigation. See United States v. Moore, 612 F.3d 698, 701 (D.C. Cir. 2010).
II. OSC has failed to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that on October 16, 2018, defendant intentionally made false statements concerning Kilimnik’s role in the obstruction of justice conspiracy.
III. OSC has established by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant intentionally made multiple false statements to the FBI, the OSC, and the grand jury concerning matters that were material to the investigation: his interactions and communications with Kilimnik.
IV. OSC has established by a preponderance of the evidence that on October 5, 2018, the defendant intentionally made false statements that were material to another DOJ investigation.
V. OSC has failed to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that on October 16, 2018, defendant intentionally made a false statement concerning his contacts with the administration.
She writes, “This order does not address the question of whether the defendant will receive credit for his acceptance of responsibility in connection with the calculation of the Sentencing Guidelines or how any other Guideline provision will apply to this case.”
She also ordered that the court reporter should make available the sealed transcript to both defense and Special Counsel, by noon on Thursday, “and the parties must inform the Court of any redactions that must to be made before the transcript can be released no later than 11:00 a.m. on February 15, 2019.”
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