When will these idiots ever learn to not lie to the FBI and Robert Mueller's team? These guys are seasoned professionals and on their absolute worst day they are still exponentially better than these stupid, third rate criminals (G Papa, Flynn and now Paulie Manafort).
Tonight's breaking news is that Manafort's plea deal is apparently off the table and Mueller is ready to go to sentencing. Why, you ask? Because Manafort can't stop lying to the FBI and the Special Counsel.
The court filings alleges that Manafort lied after pleading guilty and should therefore be sentenced *immediately.* Manafort, of course, denies lying, because when does a liar actually say "ok, you caught me...I lied...a lot."
The filing reads:
“After signing the plea agreement, 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. The government will file a detailed sentencing submission to the Probation Department and the Court in advance of sentencing that sets forth the nature of the defendant’s crimes and lies, including those after signing the plea agreement.”
Manafort is facing decades in prison, unless he thinks he is somehow getting a pardon from Trump. (It's not out of the realm of possibility that he got a message delivered to him about a pardon if he just keeps his mouth shut.)
Here is the entire filing:
Hardball had this breaking news on the top of the hour. Joining Chris Matthews was David Corn, Michael Steele, Peter Baker and Barbara McQuade. Ken Dilanian also joined over the phone.
Some of the highlights:
MCQUADE: Yeah, I haven't seen the report that Robert Mueller's team filed, but it could be devastating for a lot of people. If he lied, he loses his value as a cooperator and the deal is off. What it means for Paul Manafort, what happens is the plea is accepted. The guilty plea stands, but the plea agreement can be voided if he has lied. By failing to comply with the terms, the deal is off. Instead of getting a motion for reduced sentence in exchange for cooperation, he now faces the guidelines, which I think are 17 to 20 years in prison. So we go back to where they would have been if he had pleaded guilty without cooperation.
And Ken Dilanian, who was actually at the hearings:
DILANIAN: I'm not sure he would have been a star witness because of the credibility problems you were talking about. Prosecutors did hope to get new information from him about what happened during the campaign. And they are saying flat out that he has lied to them in these discussions that they've been having with him since the plea agreement.
It's remarkable because in the document, prosecutors say that Manafort disagrees and doesn't believe he lied. But if, in fact, Mueller is going to go to court and say that Manafort lied, he must have some proof of this. He must have documentary corroborating evidence that shows the things Manafort said in these discussions flatly aren't true.
So it's really hard to know exactly what to make of this until we see the details, and the details are not in this document. Mueller is, in fact, saying he's going to file a document later explaining the ways in which Manafort lied. But it's just an incredible development. If it's true, it just shows -- it's another level of recklessness from Manafort who, after all, allegedly tampered with witnesses while he was under indictment which led him to be thrown in jail.
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