Manafort sought deal with Mueller, but talks fell apart: report
President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort sought to make a deal with authorities ahead of his second trial in Washington, D.C., but the talks fell apart, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.
Manafort’s defense team reportedly held plea discussions with prosecutors last week, but the talks stalled over objections raised by special counsel Robert Mueller.
{mosads}The Journal could not identify what those objections were, and representatives for Manafort and Mueller declined to comment for the report.
Manafort is facing a second set of charges in D.C. related to his work for a Russia-backed political party in Ukraine. He is being accused of failing to register as a foreign agent, among other charges.
The former Trump associate last week was convicted by a Virginia jury on eight felony counts in the first legal victory for Mueller’s team. The jury found Manafort guilty on five charges of filing false income tax returns, one count of failing to report foreign bank accounts and two counts of bank fraud.
They deadlocked on the other 10 of 18 counts.
The guilty conviction was the first time Mueller’s investigation has been tested in court, but its content had little to do with ties between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign.
Mueller’s team in recent days shortened the estimate for the length of Manafort’s upcoming trial, which is scheduled to start on Sept. 17. The special counsel’s prosecutors wrote it could be completed in around two, rather than three, weeks.
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