Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has just pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. One conspiracy count concerned conspiracy to defraud the United States (with Russian Konstantin Kilimnick and Rick Gates) mostly through money laundering activities while serving as an unregistered foreign agent; the second count concerned conspiracy to obstruct justice through witness tampering.
Several significant points regarding the process:
1) It's not known yet whether Manafort's plea agreement includes an agreement to cooperate with the Special Counsel's investigation [see update below]; and
2) Some of the crimes Manafort has pleaded guilty to are also state crimes (eg., money laundering), meaning such crimes are prosecutable at the state level and are not pardonable by Trump.
This follows Manafort's August convictions in Federal court in Virginia on 8 counts of felony tax and bank fraud.
Here's a clue to look for in the coming hours/ days: if Manafort's attorney's abrogate the cooperation agreement with Trump's "legal team" (as Michael Cohen did before he flipped), it means he's cooperating with the Special Counsel. But while we wait until more is known about what, if anything, has been agreed upon before we pop too many corks, at least we can indulge in some schadenfreude: "Lock him up! Lock him up!"
UPDATE: Pop the corks! There is a 17- page cooperation agreement with the Special Counsel! Or as Benjamin Wittes puts it --
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) September 14, 2018
Here's what he could be spilling on Trump.
UPDATE II: Marcy Wheeler explains why the cooperation agreement is "pardon proof."
Can't wait to see Rump's next tweet about "brave" Paul Manafort not being a "rat."
