Michael Cohen Joins List Of Trump Associates Mueller Has Taken Down
Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney and “fixer” for President Trump, pleaded guilty Thursday to charges from Special Counsel Robert Mueller that he lied to Congress in regards to the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia and the Trump Organization’s plans to build a Trump Tower in Russia.
This is not to be confused with Cohen’s guilty plea earlier this year, which was not directly connected to the Mueller investigation, but rather the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Now that Cohen has pleaded guilty to charges in the Mueller probe, he joins a list of Trump associates who have either pled guilty or received convictions in the investigation.
Michael Flynn
The retired United States Army Lieutenant General and former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Flynn was a 2016 Trump campaign surrogate. He served as Trump’s National Security Advisor but resigned after only 24 days. Flynn pled guilty in December of 2017 to one count of lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian government during the presidential transition. Flynn agreed to cooperate with the Mueller probe, and nearly a year after his plea has still yet to be sentenced. As of September, his sentencing was scheduled to take place on December 18.
Paul Manafort
The longtime international political fixer who served as Trump’s campaign manager for several months during the 2016 election, Manafort was arrested and indicted by Mueller on a wide variety of charges in October of 2017, was hit with further charges the following February, and still more in June. In the first of two planned trials, Manafort was convicted on eight counts of tax and bank fraud. Manafort then avoided a second trial by pleading guilty to both witness tampering and conspiracy to defraud the United States, and agreeing to cooperate with Mueller.
However, earlier this week, the Mueller team announced that it had pulled out of its agreement with Manafort, after determining that he had lied about his business dealings.
Rick Gates
Gates, a longtime associate of Manafort and his deputy during his time with the Trump campaign, was indicted along with Manafort in October 2017, and in February 2018 he agreed to cooperate with the Mueller probe against Manafort, pleading guilty to one count each of conspiracy against the United States and making false statements. At Manafort’s trial, Gates both testified against his longtime associate and admitted to stealing from him. He is still awaiting sentencing.
George Papadopoulos Will Head To Jail On Monday, Second Top Trump Campaign Official Behind Bars. #USPolitics #Politics https://t.co/PIEmpKTFAD
— The Inquisitr (@theinquisitr) November 25, 2018
George Papadopoulos
A young, obscure, low-level foreign policy advisor to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, Papadopoulos was arrested in July of 2017 and entered a guilty plea that October to one count of making false statements to the FBI. He reported this week to prison to begin a 14-day sentence.
Others
Other people who have been charged by the Mueller probe, including Dutch lawyer Alex van der Zwaan, Manafort associate Konstantin Kilimnik and two dozen Russians, can’t reasonably be described as “Trump associates,” while others in Trump’s orbit who have been reported as in the crosshairs of the probe, such as Roger Stone and Donald Trump, Jr., have not as of now been charged.
