Legal experts: Manafort cooperation could energize Mueller probe
A plea deal by former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort to cooperate with U.S. prosecutors in their investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election suggests he could shed light on unanswered questions revolving around the campaign, legal experts said on Friday.
Manafort's agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller to cooperate "fully, truthfully, completely, and forthrightly" could put to the test U.S. President Donald Trump's denials of campaign collusion with Russia, lawyers not involved in the case said.
Randall Eliason, a former federal prosecutor and a law professor at George Washington University, said the agreement, which caps at 10 years a sentence that could have been much longer, was a "pretty good deal" that suggested the Mueller team valued Manafort's cooperation.
Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who is representing Trump in the Russia probe, told Reuters on Friday that Manafort "knows nothing harmful to the president and the plea is the best evidence of that." The White House said in a statement that the agreement had "absolutely nothing to do" with the president or his 2016 campaign.
Manafort attended a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Russian representatives and top campaign officials, including Trump's son and son-in-law, who expected to receive derogatory information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Any light Manafort could shed on that meeting and other episodes could deepen the Mueller probe, legal experts said, increasing the pressure on Trump. The president and his allies have repeatedly called for the investigation to wind down and he describes the probe as a "witch hunt."
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