Just hours after former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was charged in court filings by the Mueller investigation, President Trump unleashed a series of bitter tweets criticizing Mueller and the investigation, claiming that it is “ruining lives” according to NBC News. Manafort failed to comply with the terms of his plea agreement by lying to investigators “on a variety of subject matters.”
Mueller’s federal court filing in Washington D.C. on Monday night did not lay out specifics of Manafort’s alleged prevarications, but said that the Special Counsel would “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 herein.” Additionally, Mueller’s filing also states that Manafort’s failed cooperation relieves the special counsel of its obligations in the plea agreement, which included a reduction in Manafort’s prison sentence.
Manafort’s legal team has disputed Mueller’s charges, telling a federal judge that Manafort met with the special counsel “on numerous occasions and answered the government’s questions” and “believes he has provided truthful information and does not agree with the government’s characterization or that he has breached the agreement,” according to Fox News .
Manafort was found guilty on eight criminal counts in August after his indictment by Mueller, but the charges were mostly related to crimes committed years before Manafort joined the Trump campaign prior to the 2016 election.
The Phony Witch Hunt continues, but Mueller and his gang of Angry Dems are only looking at one side, not the other. Wait until it comes out how horribly & viciously they are treating people, ruining lives for them refusing to lie. Mueller is a conflicted prosecutor gone rogue….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2018
….The Fake News Media builds Bob Mueller up as a Saint, when in actuality he is the exact opposite. He is doing TREMENDOUS damage to our Criminal Justice System, where he is only looking at one side and not the other. Heroes will come of this, and it won’t be Mueller and his…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2018
….terrible Gang of Angry Democrats. Look at their past, and look where they come from. The now $30,000,000 Witch Hunt continues and they’ve got nothing but ruined lives. Where is the Server? Let these terrible people go back to the Clinton Foundation and “Justice” Department!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2018
President Trump’s tweets echo the accusations of conservative conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi, who recently told media outlets that he expects to be indicted by the Mueller investigation. Corsi claimed on Monday that he would reject a plea deal offered by Mueller, saying that he would “rather sit in a prison and rot” than admit that he lied to investigators.
Corsi, the former bureau chief for Infowars, was largely responsible for the proliferation of the John Kerry “swift boat” campaign during the 2004 election and the Obama “birther” conspiracy, a position that President Trump championed before it was discredited.
With Manafort appearing to cease cooperation with investigators and now Corsi refusing to enter a plea agreement, many are beginning to question the possibility that President Trump may pardon some of those ultimately convicted following indictments in the Mueller probe. President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani appeared to entertain that notion, according to a report by CNBC , suggesting that the Mueller investigation has gone too far.
“Is it conceivable that [Manafort] and Jerome Corsi, who is saying Mueller’s people are pressuring him to lie, are telling the truth and the special counsel in their zeal to get the president may be going too far?” Giuliani said.
In addition to the ongoing issues with Manafort and Corsi, the Mueller investigation has additionally faced challenges to its indictments of Russian companies and citizens, when Washington attorneys Eric Dubelier and Kate Seikaly appeared as representatives for the Russians in May and demanded the disclosure of key evidence in the case, as reported by Politico .
Mueller, as has been his policy throughout the investigation, declined to comment.