A lawyer for Paul Manafort would repeatedly brief President Trump’s lawyers on the former campaign chairman’s discussions with federal investigators even after Manafort agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller.
Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump’s lawyers, acknowledged the arrangement Tuesday and defended it, saying that it gave Trump’s legal team insights into Mueller’s investigation. Two other people familiar with the conversations also confirmed the arrangement to the New York Times.
The Times noted that some legal experts believe that this could have been a bid by Manafort for a presidential pardon while on the other side working with the special counsel to hopefully be served a lighter sentence.
Manafort’s lawyer Kevin Downing has met with Trump’s legal team, but has not broken any laws in doing so.
Those familiar with the discussions, however, told the Times that the arrangement has led Mueller’s prosecutors to believe that Manafort and his legal team are holding out on them, despite his pledge to cooperate with any matter they deemed relevant.
Giuliani said that Downing told him that prosecutors were heavily focusing in on whether Trump knew about the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower involving Donald Trump Jr., which the president has continuously denied knowing about.
Manafort’s lawyers say that their client has remained truthful, but have also made it clear that they realize the two sides are deadlocked.
The former Trump campaign chairman is facing sentencing on two conspiracy charges and eight counts of financial fraud, which could land him in jail for at least 10 years.
[Giuliani: Mueller’s ‘zeal to get’ Trump is prompting him to push witnesses to lie]
