Well, it’s another bad week for Paul Manafort. This time, it’s because special counsel Robert Mueller says he has repeatedly breached his plea agreement. How? Mueller’s team claims he has been lying to federal investigators. And, according to the New York Times, a lawyer for Manafort continued to brief President Trump’s legal team on Manafort’s discussions with federal investigators...after Manafort flipped against the president and became one of special counsel Robert Mueller’s key cooperators. It’s normal for lawyers representing people who are on the same side to share information, but after Manafort flipped, that wasn’t exactly the case anymore. Ken White and special guest Renato Mariotti agree -- they’ve never seen lawyers do something like this before, and any defense attorney who does something like this would take a serious career hit. It’s a small world with a lot of repeat players.
So: what next? Does this move essentially waive attorney-client privilege, meaning the Mueller team can try to find out what was leaked to the Trump legal team? And what about the theory that Mueller knew Manafort would do something like this and he set up the cooperation agreement knowing that? It’s bogus. Listen to find out why, and exactly how joint defense agreements are supposed to work, and what’s going to happen to Manafort now.
Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort arrives for arraignment on a third superseding indictment against him by Special Counsel Robert Mueller on charges of witness tampering, at U.S. District Court in Washington. Photo credit: Jonathan Ernst/ Reuters.