Manafort plea deal - Part 2

The deal dismisses deadlocked charges against Manafort from an earlier trial, but only after "successful cooperation” with Mueller’s probe into Russian election interference and whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Moscow on its efforts.

  Politico

But Sarah Sanders just told us it has nothing to do with Trump.

However, a source close to the defense told POLITICO, "the cooperation agreement does not involve the Trump campaign. ... There was no collusion with Russia."

Was that maybe Rudy?

The new charges mean that prosecutors have agreed to drop five counts, including money laundering, failing to register as a foreign agent and making false statements. Manafort admitted to those allegations as part of the umbrella conspiracy-against-the-U.S. charge, but the individual charges and the potential prison time they carry are being dismissed.

Seems weird. I don't know if that just means he avoids the extra time that might be incurred under individual charges, or what. Surely if he's admitted to them under another charge, they're still guilty pleas.*

Weissmann said Manafort is also admitting to all of the bank-fraud charges from the Virginia case. While that means Manafort won’t face another trial over those federal charges, the admission could be critical to the issue of follow-up state charges, since bank fraud can typically be charged at the state and federal level.

Yeah, so can money laundering.

The new filing also included intriguing details that showed Manafort's foreign lobbying campaign targeting former President Barack Obama and his vice president, Joe Biden.

[...]

Separately, the agreement calls for a 10-year cap on how long Manafort will be sent to prison, and for Manafort to serve time from his separate Virginia and Washington cases concurrently.

[...]

The court documents indicate that Manafort “orchestrated a scheme to have …’[O]bama jews’ put pressure on the administration” to support [Manafort's then client Ukrainian Viktor] Yanukovych.

Hold up. Shouldn't that read "calls for the prosecution to recommend a cap?" Because the agreement is between plaintiff and defendant. It's the judge who does the sentencing.

Also, if Trump Jr had any brains, he'd be shitting his pants right now. Manafort was at that Tower meeting.

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

*UPDATE:



I'm going to have to do some research into this.  I still don't understand how an admission is not the same as a plea.

FURTHER UPDATE:  I think this explains it.