Boston Globe/New York Times: Manafort lawyer is said to have briefed Trump attorneys
WASHINGTON — A lawyer for Paul Manafort, the president’s onetime campaign chairman, repeatedly briefed President Trump’s lawyers on his client’s discussions with federal investigators after Manafort agreed to cooperate with the special counsel, according to one of Trump’s lawyers and two other people familiar with the conversations.
The arrangement was highly unusual and inflamed tensions with Mueller’s office when prosecutors discovered it after Manafort began cooperating two months ago, the people said. Some legal specialists speculated it was a bid by Manafort for a presidential pardon even as he worked with the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, in hopes of a lighter sentence.
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Update: Manafort plea decision represents setback for Mueller (The Hill)
WNU Editor: I have been told that in the U.S. joint defense agreements are nothing new .... so this announcement of a joint defense agreement between Trump's lawyers and Manafort's news is not really news. But what is news is that we now know that Manafort's lawyers are telling President Trump's lawyers that the Mueller Counsel is trying to force their client to lie in his testimony. No wonder the Mueller counsel quickly stepped-up this weekend accusing Paul Manafort of breaking his plea deal. They have been exposed .... and to put it bluntly .... it looks like they have nothing on President Trump .... and definitely nothing on Russian collusion. I call this criminalizing politics .... something that President Trump is now pointing out .... Trump lashes out at Mueller probe: 'our Joe McCarthy era' (AFP)
