Paul Manafort Agrees to Cooperate With Special Counsel; Pleads Guilty to Reduced Charges
A list of everyone who’s been charged so far as a result of the Mueller investigation
WASHINGTON — Paul Manafort agreed on Friday to tell all he knows to the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, as part of a plea deal that could shape the final stages of the inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The deal was a surrender by Mr. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, who had vowed for months to prove his innocence in a case stemming from his work as a political consultant in Ukraine. And it was a decisive triumph for Mr. Mueller, who now has a cooperating witness who was at the center of the Trump campaign during a crucial period in 2016 and has detailed insight into another target of federal prosecutors, the network of lobbyists and influence brokers seeking to help foreign interests in Washington.
Mr. Manafort’s decision, announced at a federal court hearing in Washington in which he pleaded guilty to two conspiracy charges, was likely to unsettle Mr. Trump, who had praised Mr. Manafort for standing up to prosecutors’ pressure and had hinted that he might pardon him.
It is not clear what information Mr. Manafort offered prosecutors in three days of negotiations that led to the plea deal. But in court on Friday, Mr. Manafort agreed to an open-ended arrangement that requires him to answer “fully, truthfully, completely and forthrightly” questions about “any and all matters” the government wants to ask about.
The president’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, quickly sought to distance Mr. Trump from the plea deal.
“Once again an investigation has concluded with a plea having nothing to do with President Trump or the Trump campaign,” he said in a statement. “The reason: The president did nothing wrong and Paul Manafort will tell the truth.”
Mr. Mueller’s investigation has maintained such secrecy that it is impossible to know what puzzle pieces he might still be trying to fill in or what Mr. Manafort’s testimony might mean for Mr. Trump. But at a minimum, Mr. Manafort’s cooperation gives Mr. Mueller additional visibility into some key moments in the campaign and the role of other senior figures.
Mr. Manafort was a participant in the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower that had been arranged by a Moscow lawyer who said she was delivering damaging information about Hillary Clinton on the Kremlin’s behalf. His cooperation could help Mr. Mueller establish how much, if anything, the Trump campaign knew about Russia’s efforts to boost Mr. Trump’s candidacy.
Mr. Manafort joins four other Trump aides who have offered cooperation in exchange for lesser charges in cases that Mr. Mueller’s office either pursued or referred to federal prosecutors in New York. They include Michael D. Cohen, the president’s longtime personal lawyer; Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser; Rick Gates, the former deputy campaign chairman; and George Papadopoulos, a former campaign adviser.
Mr. Manafort, 69, had insisted for a year that he would not help the special counsel’s office. But after being convicted on eight felony counts in a federal court in Virginia last month, and facing a second trial on more felony charges in federal court here, Mr. Manafort was confronted with the very real prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison.
Under the agreement announced on Friday, prosecutors replaced a seven-count indictment with one that charged two counts of conspiracy that carry a maximum penalty of 10 years behind bars. No sentencing date has been set for those charges or the ones he was convicted of in Northern Virginia.
Mr. Manafort also agreed to surrender most of his once-vast personal fortune including three houses and two apartments — one in Trump Tower in Manhattan.
At the court hearing, Mr. Manafort, who has been in jail since June, appeared weary and subdued. He sat grim-mouthed, eyes cast downward, as Andrew Weissmann, the lead prosecutor on his case, read through what Judge Amy Berman Jackson of United States District Court called the longest recitation of offenses she had ever heard in her courtroom. A full contingent of prosecutors and F.B.I. agents who had worked on Mr. Manafort’s case showed up for the hearing.
Kevin Downing, Mr. Manafort’s lead lawyer, said it was a “tough day for Mr. Manafort but he has accepted responsibility” for criminal conduct that dates back “many years.” He added, “He wanted to make sure his family was able to remain safe and live a good life.”
In deciding whether to plead guilty and cooperate with prosecutors, Mr. Manafort weighed the possibility that Mr. Trump would pardon him, according to two people familiar with his situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity. His lawyers and Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers had shared information about Mr. Mueller’s inquiry under a joint defense agreement, according to one person close to the president. When weeks passed after his conviction in Northern Virginia with no word of a pardon, Mr. Manafort decided he needed to rethink his legal strategy, another person said.
Mr. Trump assailed plea deals after Mr. Cohen, his longtime lawyer, pleaded guilty last month to breaking campaign finance laws and other charges, implicating Mr. Trump in the cover-up of a potential sex scandal during the 2016 presidential race. Mr. Trump said then that trading information on someone else for lesser charges or a lighter sentence “almost ought to be outlawed.”
John M. Dowd, Mr. Trump’s former lawyer, emailed lawyers representing other clients who have been drawn into Mr. Mueller’s inquiry and said that Mr. Manafort “has no info on president or campaign.”
Of all Mr. Trump’s campaign advisers, Mr. Manafort arguably had the deepest ties to Russian operatives and oligarchs. He worked for years in Ukraine with Konstantin V. Kilimnik, a Russian citizen who prosecutors have said had ties to a Russian intelligence service that continued into 2016.
He also had a business relationship with Oleg V. Deripaska, a Russian oligarch with ties to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. At one point, Mr. Deripaska lent Mr. Manafort $10 million that prosecutors suggested was never repaid.
In July 2016, just before the Republican National Convention when Mr. Manafort was heading the Trump campaign, he sent a message to Mr. Deripaska through Mr. Kilimnik that he was ready to provide “private briefings” about the presidential race.
Mr. Manafort could also be instrumental in investigations now underway of lobbyists and influence-brokers who worked with him in Ukraine, including Tony Podesta, a prominent Democratic lobbyist; Vin Weber, a former Republican member of Congress; and Gregory Craig, a former White House counsel in the administration of President Barack Obama. Prosecutors said on Friday that officials from Mr. Podesta and Mr. Weber’s firm knew about Mr. Manafort’s machinations to disguise his lobbying work.
Although they dismissed some charges, the prosecutors used the conspiracy charges to which Mr. Manafort pleaded guilty as umbrella counts, encompassing crimes ranging from money laundering to obstruction of justice. In court, Mr. Weissmann described a decade of criminal activity in which Mr. Manafort enriched himself by promoting the political career of Viktor F. Yanukovych, who was president of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014.
He described how Mr. Manafort had illegally operated as the hidden hand behind a multiyear campaign to burnish Mr. Yanukovych’s reputation in the United States and damage the image of his main political opponent, Yulia V. Tymoshenko, Ukraine’s former prime minister. The court documents revealed new details about how Mr. Manafort directed a host of players to lobby under false pretenses, pretending to be independent actors when they were in fact paid agents of Mr. Yanukovych.
That secrecy was important because Mr. Manafort not only never reported the lobbying activity to the Justice Department, as required, but he also hid tens of millions of dollars in payments from Ukraine, laundering money through overseas bank accounts and avoiding taxes on $15 million of his income.
Among other measures, Mr. Manafort orchestrated a misleading 2012 report by an American law firm to try to tamp down criticism of the Ukraine government for prosecuting and jailing of Ms. Tymoshenko.
Mr. Manafort also coordinated with an unnamed senior Israeli official to undermine support for Ms. Tymoshenko within the Obama administration by claiming Ms. Tymoshenko was anti-Semitic. “The Jewish community will take this out on Obama on Election Day if he does nothing,” Mr. Manafort wrote in one communication.
He worked with European consultants to plant articles in the United States alleging that Ms. Tymoshenko had orchestrated the murder of a Ukrainian official. He wrote to one colleague that he wanted “to plant some stink on Tymo,” using a nickname for Ms. Tymoshenko, but stressed that there should be “no fingerprints” on the articles.
And he waged an “all-out campaign” to kill a Senate resolution that would have condemned Ms. Tymoshenko’s treatment by Mr. Yanukovych’s government without ever revealing to the senators that his lobbyists were paid by Ukrainian oligarchs backing Mr. Yanukovych. One consultant working for Mr. Manafort lobbied Mr. Obama directly on Ukraine by accompanying his country’s prime minister to an Oval Office meeting, the prosecutors said.
Mr. Manafort also acknowledged that he and Mr. Kilimnik, his Russian associate, tried to persuade two witnesses to lie to federal investigators about the lobbying campaign for Mr. Yanukovych in the United States.
READ MORE FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES
Jailbird allegedly gouged out cellmate’s eyes, made necklace with his ear
A Florida jailbird gouged out his cellmate’s eyeballs, plopped them in a cup then strolled to the prison chow hall with the man’s bloody ear dangling around his neck, according to a report Friday.
Prison guards at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Lakeside had no clue that inmate Larry Mark, 58, had been strangled, mutilated and wrapped in a blood-soaked sheet until his thuggish cellmate showed up for breakfast Thursday — wearing the trophy of flesh, prison sources told the Miami Herald.
The unnamed killer allegedly got mad at Mark for pestering him — and told other inmates he planned to eat his eyeballs, the paper reported.
He struck just hours before a gang-related knife fight broke out in another wing of the prison, which was recently hit by staff shortages, according to the paper. Mark was serving a life sentence for murder.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement would not provide the name of the attacker, who had recently been transferred from death row at a state prison, accordion to the paper
Corrections officers at the prison are on edge due to the staff shortages, which have left up to 250 inmates supervised by a single guard.
Julie Jones, a rep for the Florida Department of Corrections told the paper, “Any loss of life at the hands of an inmate is intolerable, and we are working with our partners at FDLE to investigate this death and ensure anyone responsible is held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/14/jailbird-gouged-out-cellmates-eyes-made-necklace-with-his-ear/
Junkie mom arrested for stealing drugs from dying daughter
A drug-addicted Missouri mom was busted this week for swiping pain medication from her terminally ill daughter — and taking it herself, cops said.
Carol Ballweg, 46, was the primary caregiver for her 20-year-old daughter, only identified as “CM,” and was required to provide her with fentanyl and oxycodone for pain, Troy, Mo., cops said in a statement.
Staff at Troy Family Practice called local police Monday to report “concerns of neglect and drug abuse related to a patient,” cops said.
They had previously made several “hotline” calls about the young woman’s care — expressing concerns that Ballweg repeatedly asked for the medications to be filled earlier than required, police said. CM’s home health provider also raised the alarm.
So doctors decided to screen CM’s urine and found no traces of her prescribed drugs — prompting them to no longer fill her prescriptions, cops said.
Meanwhile, as her mom popped her pills, police said her helpless daughter developed bed sores, which can be life-threatening.
Cops executed a search warrant at Ballweg’s home on Tuesday — when she fessed up to having an opioid addiction and taking the meds herself.
She was charged with four counts of stealing a controlled substance and two counts of abusing a disabled or vulnerable person, according to police.
Her bond was set at $100,000, and a judge ordered that she cut off contact with her daughter.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/14/junkie-mom-arrested-for-stealing-drugs-from-dying-daughter/
Kanye West Posted A Video Of North Singing The Drake Song That Started The Kim Kardashian Affair Theory And People Have Thoughts
The majority of the theory stemmed from the lyrics to Drake’s song, “In My Feelings,” which references a woman called “KiKi.”
Fans of Kim Kardashian will know that “KiKi” is her nickname.
In another song, Drake repeated the words “Your Wifey” in the same vocal pattern Kanye uses on his track, “Runaway”
And in another track, Drake referenced “creeping down the block and making a right” to see his secret lover. Turns out that you can get from Drake’s house to Kimye’s by following these directions.
However, a few hours after the theory blew up the internet, Kim shut the whole thing down with this comment on The Shade Room’s Instagram account.
And a couple of days after that, Kanye appeared to respond to the theory in a string of tweets in which he sent “good energy and love” to Drake.
Before saying he wanted to attend one of Drake’s concerts to “give love and be inspired”.
However, Kanye appears to have thrown a spanner in the works because yesterday he posted this video of his five-year-old daughter North West singing in the back of a car.
Read more via: Kanye West Posted A Video Of North Singing The Drake Song
Machine Gun Kelly’s Security Accused of Beating Up Actor Who Called Rapper Out for Eminem Diss
Machine Gun Kelly has been a hot topic over the last week or so due to his back and forth with Eminem. Now he’s making the headlines again for reportedly siccing his bodyguards on an actor who was critical of his Shady diss.
The incident happened in Atlanta on Friday night (Sept. 14), reports TMZ, and some of it was caught on camera. In the video, Ozark actor, Gabriel “G-Rod” Rodriguez approaches MGK, who appears to be sitting at the bar talking to a woman. Focusing his camera on the rapper, Rodriguez says, “I’m gonna say it because it has to be said, you’re a pussy for going for family,” apparently referring to Kelly bringing up Em’s daughter Hailie.
The Cleveland rapper appears to push the actor away saying, “Get the fuck out my face, bruh.” Shortly afterward, the video ends. According to Rodriguez, he was booted from the bar for the disturbance. But, a couple hours later, Rodriguez claims he was walking to a nearby Hampton Inn when he saw MGK and his crew, leading to a verbal altercation. Cops intervened and quelled the situation, but it ended up carrying on into the lobby of the Inn, where the actor claims he was jumped by at least five members of MGK’s security detail. The beating left the actor with multiple facial bruises. Authorities say the beatdown was caught on camera.
Rodriguez plans to file a lawsuit against the rapper, but says he will drop the charges if Kelly will agree to fight him one-on-one. “I will drop the lawsuit if we both sign waivers and meet in an octagon and go man-to-man without goons or weapons,” the actor said in a follow-up video.
See footage related to the incident via: Machine Gun Kelly’s Security Accused of Beating Up Actor Who Called Rapper Out for Eminem Diss
Check out Ti’s video:
Machine Gun Kelly did what MOST rappers are SCARED to do! He Drops An Eminem Diss Track #RapDevil?
Hypocritical Rap god fans~Joe Budden Responds To Eminem + EM confirms new MGK diss track
Gucci Mane, Bruno Mars & Kodak Black Team Up For New Song “Wake Up In The Sky”
Listen to Gucci Mane, Bruno Mars & Kodak Black’s new collab “Wake Up In The Sky.”
Gucci Mane has been teasing his Evil Genius album for a while now, first announcing the project way back in December on Twitter, but unfortunately there’s still no word of a release date. Last month, he shared the stacked features to the project and dropped off the song “Kept Back” with Lil Pump, leaving us hopeful that project was finally right around the corner. While we continue to wait for a concrete release date to surface, Guwop decides to hold us over in the meantime today with another new single called “Wake Up In The Sky,” featuring Bruno Mars & Kodak Black. The song was first teased a couple weeks ago when Kodak & Bruno were spotted cooking up in the studio, but it wasn’t until Thursday we found out that Gucci Mane was on it too.
This isn’t the first time Bruno & Guwop have worked together either. In fact, Gucci Mane was previously featured on the remix to Bruno’s 24K Magic single “That’s What I Like,” which dropped back in April.
Serving as the first offering from Kodak since his prison release, take a listen to the fly-new collab and let us know what you think. Record available now on iTunes.
Quotable Lyrics:
I drink till I’m drunk, smoke till I’m high
Castle on the hill, wake up in the sky
You can’t tell me I ain’t fly (you can’t tell me I ain’t fly)
I know I’m super fly, I know I’m super fly
The ladies love luxury, that’s why they all fuck with me
Out here with the moves like I invented smooth
You can’t tell me I ain’t fly (you can’t tell me I ain’t fly)
I know I’m super fly, I know I’m super fly
Listen via: Gucci Mane, Bruno Mars & Kodak Black Team Up For New Song “Wake Up In The Sky”
Amy Winehouse’s father slams Paul McCartney for saying he could have helped the singer: ‘What would he have done?’
Amy Winehouse’s father, Mitch Winehouse, has called out Beatles’ legend Paul McCartney for his claim that he could have saved his daughter from her tragic death.
On Friday, on what would have been his daughter’s 35th birthday, the father of the British singer appeared on ITV’s “Loose Women” and revealed that he was shocked to read that McCartney regretted not being able to help Winehouse battle her addiction.
“What would he have done? It’s up to the person in recovery and they have to want to get help. It’s all about the person who is dealing with her addiction,” Mitch said of McCartney’s comments. “We’ve gone through the hurt and the pain and it’s still painful and our way to deal with it is to help young people.”
In an interview with GQ, the “Let It Be” singer recalled the time he met Winehouse in 2008, three years before death, and said that he was aware that the young star “had a problem,” but regretted not saying or doing anything to help her.
“‘I knew she had a problem, but I ended up just saying hi, she said hi, but afterwards I thought I really should have just run after her — ‘Hey, Amy, listen, you’re really good, I really hope you…’ — and say something that broke through the despair. And she’d remember and think, ‘Oh yeah, I’m good, I’ve got a life to lead.’ But you always have those little regrets.”
Winehouse’s father also clarified on the talk show that, although his daughter struggled with drugs, she did not die from an overdose.
“What people don’t realize about Amy is she was clear of drugs for three years. A lot of people think she died of a drugs overdose, right? Well, she didn’t, she was clear of drugs for three years. Some people say, “Well, what’s the difference?” She died of alcohol poisoning.”
Read more via: Amy Winehouse’s father slams Paul McCartney for saying he could have helped the singer: ‘What would he have done?’
Eminem: Killshot
After nearly two weeks, Eminem finally responds to Machine Gun Kelly with Killshot, check it out!
Drake Is Reportedly Dating a Teenage Model Named Bella B Harris
Hot off the heels of the hilarious news that Drake tried to thirstily date Heidi Klum and she fully ghosted him, the rapper appears to be dating an 18-year-old model. In other words, he pulled a Scott Disick. According to Page Six, Drake and Bella were seen getting cozy at an Italian restaurant in Washington D.C.—and they tried to be all ~stealthy~ by having him use the front entrance and her use the back entrance.
In case you care what they ate, Page Six has more details than you could ever want in life, saying the duo feasted on “sweet corn agnolotti, spaghetti and meatballs, Mediterranean octopus and roasted salmon,” not to mention “whipped potatoes.”
Meanwhile, Bella seemingly confirmed her relationship with Drake all the way back in late August without anyone noticing, posting a cuddly photo with the caption “no place I’d rather be.”
Article via: Drake is dating a model
NRA TV depicts ‘Thomas & Friends’ characters in KKK hoods
Diversity seems to be an ugly word these days. What should be celebratory of different people and their cultures has turned into an ugly word. For example, a National rifle Association online show depicted the characters from hit-childhood show “Thomas & Friends” in white, Ku Klux Klan- style hoods on burning tracks.
Host of NRA TV’s “Relentless,” Dana Loesch went after the classic children’s character Thomas The Tank Engine after its maker, Mattel, joined forces with the United Nations in efforts to increase gender diversity and representation on the program and include new characters from around the globe.
Loesch, a conservative spokeswomen for the gun rights group, specifically called out one new character – Nia, a steam engine from Kenya.
“That’s where it gets really strange to me,” Loesch says on Friday’s episode. “Am I to understand this entire time that Thomas and his trains were white? Because they all have gray faces. How do you bring ethnic diversity? I mean they had to paint what I guess they thought was some sort of African pattern on the side of Nia’s engine.”
The program cut to an image with three trains wearing white hoods and tracks on fire. “Fair, I get it,” Loesch sarcastically says. “Thomas the Tank Engine has been a blight on race relations for far too long. Clearly this is overdue.”
The NRA did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.
Mattel announced Friday that “Thomas & Friends,” a Nick Jr. show, would add characters to its newest season from around the world and partner with the UN to promote its Sustainable Development Goals.
In the new season, Thomas will travel from his fictional home Sodor for the first time in the series to visit China, India and Australia, Mattel said. More female characters will also be represented, the company added.
“This change will deepen the brand’s engagement with girls who represent over 40% of the show’s viewership and provide a strong message of gender equality to the young audience,” Mattel said in a statement.
Article via: NRA TV depicts ‘Thomas & Friends’ characters in KKK hoods