Tony Podesta, founder of the now-shuttered Podesta Group and brother to former Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, has been offered immunity by special counsel Robert Mueller to testify against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, according to a report.
Fox News’ Tucker Carlson announced on his show Thursday evening that two separate sources confirmed the offer.
“In other words, for a near identical crime, Bill and Hillary’s friend could escape and emerge completely unscathed while Paul Manafort may rot in jail. Only one of them made the mistake of chairing Donald Trump’s presidential campaign,” Carlson said.
[Also read: Robert Mueller’s evidence list against Paul Manafort reveals a life of luxury]
BREAKING : Tucker Carlson announced that Robert Mueller offered Tony Podesta immunity to testify against Paul Manafort. pic.twitter.com/zNivVmqumN
— Mike (@Fuctupmind) July 20, 2018
The special counsel’s office declined to comment.
Mueller had offered immunity to five potential witnesses in the upcoming trial of Manafort. Mueller’s team asked for “use immunity,” which is a limited type of immunity, according to court documents filed Tuesday with the Eastern District of Virginia. While they were not immediately identified, nearly a week later a judge granted immunity to the witnesses, identified as James Brennan, Donna Duggan, Conor O’Brien, Cindy Laporta, and Dennis Raico, to testify.
Podesta resigned from his lobbying company in October in response to an investigation of the firm by Mueller. The firm was closed by the end of 2017.
At the time of Podesta’s resignation, a Podesta Group spokesman said the firm was “cooperating fully with the special counsel’s office and has taken every possible step to provide documentation that confirms timely compliance. In all of our client engagements, the Podesta Group conducts due diligence and consults with appropriate legal experts to ensure compliance with disclosure regulations at all times — and we did so in this case.”
Manafort and Podesta’s firms worked together in a public relations campaign for the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine nonprofit, which was believed to be backed by the pro-Russian and oligarch-funded Ukrainian political group Party of Regions. Sources who spoke with NBC News in October said the Podesta Group became of significant interest because it may have violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act. FARA states Americans who lobby for foreign governments, leaders, or political parties must disclose their activities with the Justice Department.
Manafort faces charges of bank, and tax fraud in the Eastern District of Virginia stemming from his work for a Ukrainian political figure, and the trial is slated to begin July 31 after it was postponed by a week. Manafort is currently jailed at the Alexandria Detention Center in Virginia, which is a few blocks away from the federal courthouse he will be tried. He was sent behind bars by a federal judge in Washington, where he also faces charges related to his work in Ukraine stemming from Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Manafort has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated.
