Special counsel Robert Mueller claimed that Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign manager, lied to prosecutors after striking a plea deal, and requested that he be sentenced for his crimes.
Mueller revealed the charge in a court filing Monday that indicated Manafort has violated the plea deal he made in the investigation by lying numerous times to the FBI.
"After signing the plea agreement," the filing read, "Manafort committed federal crimes by lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Special Counsel's Office on a variety of subject matters, which constitute breaches of the agreement."
Mueller recommended that Manafort be sentenced for the crimes that he admitted to in the plea deal.
"As the defendant has breached the plea agreement," the filing read, "there is no reason to delay his sentencing herein."
Manafort had agreed to a plea deal in September a month after he was found guilty by a jury of various crimes including tax evasion charges and two bank fraud charges. The jury reached a verdict on 8 of 18 charges made against him.
The charges stemmed from political work Manafort had done for the government of Ukraine prior to accepting the position as campaign manager for then-candidate Donald Trump.
The filing also said that Manafort disagrees with the finding that he lied to federal authorities.
"He believes he has provided truthful information and does not agree with the government's characterization or that he has breached the agreement," the filing reported.
The president had defended Manafort in various tweets expressing anger at the special counsel investigation, which he has called a "witch hunt" numerous times.
"Paul Manafort worked for Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and many other highly prominent and respected political leaders," the president tweeted in August.
"He worked for me for a very short time," he added. "Why didn’t government tell me that he was under investigation. These old charges have nothing to do with Collusion - a Hoax!"
Carlos Garcia
Staff Writer
