Read: Manafort Pushes Back On Mueller's Claims That He Lied

By Tierney Sneed
January 23, 2019 3:38 pm

Lawyers for Paul Manafort submitted a court filing Wednesday pushing back on special counsel Robert Mueller’s claims that Manafort lied to investigators since coming to a cooperation agreement with prosecutors. The filing — which is heavily redacted in its public form — comes ahead of a hearing scheduled for Friday on the dispute.

Manafort on Wednesday argued that a “fair reading” of the most recent filing by Mueller — the declaration of the FBI agent and a set of supporting documents, which were mostly redacted — “does not support the conclusion that Mr. Manafort intentionally provided false information. ”

“Based upon the pleadings and record, Mr. Manafort does not believe the materials supplied by the OSC demonstrate any intentional falsehoods on this part,” Manafort said in his filing Wednesday. He also suggested that the judge presiding over his case in D.C., U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, need not consider any additional evidence in deciding whether Manafort breached his plea deal. Jackson last week had hinted she’d be open to hearing from additional witnesses in the dispute.

Mueller has alleged that Manafort misled investigators on five topics: a $125,000 payment made to his firm; his efforts to engage in witness tampering with his Russian business associate, Konstantin Kilimnik; other interactions he had with Kilimnik; his contacts with Trump administration officials; and a separate unspecified Justice Department investigation.

more + the filing:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/read-manafort-pushes-back-on-muellers-claims-that-he-lied