27, November 2018
Ex-Trump aide Manafort ‘lied to FBI’ in Russia probe, broke plea deal 0
Special counsel Robert Mueller is accusing former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort of lying to federal investigators in the Russia probe in breach of his plea agreement. The extraordinary allegation could expose Manafort to a lengthier prison sentence and potentially more criminal charges.
The torpedoing of Manafort’s plea deal, disclosed in a court filing Monday, also results in special counsel Robert Mueller’s team losing a cooperating witness from the top of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign who was present for several key episodes under investigation. That includes a Trump Tower meeting involving Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer he was told had derogatory information on Democrat Hillary Clinton.
The move signals a return to the acrimonious relationship Manafort has had with the special counsel’s office since his indictment last year. Before his plea agreement, Manafort aggressively challenged the special counsel’s legitimacy in court, went through a bitter trial and landed himself in jail after prosecutors discovered he had attempted to tamper with witnesses in his case.
In the latest filing, Mueller’s team said Manafort “committed federal crimes” by lying about “a variety of subject matters” even after he agreed to truthfully cooperate with the investigation. Prosecutors said they will detail the “nature of the defendant’s crimes and lies” in writing at a later date to the judge.
Through his attorneys, Manafort denied lying, saying he “believes he provided truthful information” during a series of sessions with Mueller’s investigators. He also disagreed that he breached his plea agreement. Still, both sides now agree they can’t resolve the conflict, and U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson should set a date to sentence him.
Manafort, who remains jailed, had been meeting with the special counsel’s office since he pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy against the United States and conspiracy to obstruct justice. He cut that deal to head off a second trial after being convicted last summer of eight felony counts related to millions of dollars he hid from the IRS in offshore accounts.
Both cases stemmed from his Ukrainian political work and undisclosed lobbying work he admitted to carrying out in the U.S. in violation of federal law.
As part of his plea agreement, Manafort pledged to “cooperate fully, truthfully, completely, and forthrightly” with the government “in any and all matters” prosecutors deemed necessary. That included his work on the Trump campaign as well as his Ukrainian political work, which remains under investigation by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Prosecutors there are looking into the conduct of longtime Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta, former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig and former Republican congressman and lobbyist Vin Weber to determine whether they violated federal law by failing to register as foreign agents with the Justice Department. None of the men has been charged with any crimes.
As part of his plea deal, Manafort also forfeited many of his rights as well as his ability to withdraw the plea if he broke any of the terms. In return, prosecutors agreed to not bring additional charges against him and to ask a judge for a reduction of his sentence if he provided “substantial assistance.”
But with prosecutors saying he breached the agreement, Manafort now faces serious repercussions such as the possibility of prosecution on additional charges including the 10 felony counts prosecutors dropped when he made the deal.
Manafort already faces up to five years in prison on the two charges in his plea agreement. In his separate Virginia case, Manafort’s potential sentencing under federal guidelines has not yet been calculated, but prosecutors have previously said he could face as much as 10 years in prison on those charges.
He is scheduled to be sentenced in that case in February. His co-defendant Rick Gates, who spent a longer time on the campaign and worked on the Trump inaugural committee, has not had a sentencing date set yet. He continues to cooperate with Mueller.
(AP)
27, November 2018
Ambazonians don’t be distracted: It’s all about the money for Cho Ayaba and General Ivo 0
Which were you thinking about today? a) Anything but Cho Ayaba and General Ivo? b) All the actions of the Ambazonian Interim Government? c) None of the above? It’s the most important question in the Southern Cameroons revolution right now.
The Southern Cameroons political conversation is at a troubling and unusual tipping point. The exiled Interim Government wants to sell only its positive plans and the other obscure groups wants to talk only about the Interim Government’s negative record. Instead of rallying behind a government that has many experienced actors and actresses and that has the support of the Ambazonian people, the disgraced Cho Ayaba and the consistently inconsistent General Ivo are both thinking that right now the struggle is about which Interim Government negative plan is most debated.
Recently, every French Cameroun military atrocity has been blamed on the Interim Government by these inconsequential actors. As the Southern Cameroons war intensifies, it is evidently clear that the wins will be decided by what the leaders choose to do in the media.
This can play out in one of two ways. If Ambazonians decide to ignore the other opportunistic so-called leaders such as Cho Ayaba and General Ivo, we’ll be talking about anything but division and much of the discussions will be dominated by a combination of diplomatic push and resistance tactics. After the massacre in Nkambe and Bali, we of the Cameroon Concord News Group think that where we stand right now, that feels increasingly likely.
There’s another possibility; the small groups earlier created by Akwanga and Ayaba on Ground Zero that are now committing horrible crimes could remain the centre of the discussion. The leaderships of these funny groups keep posting videos of themselves on social media with the aim of fabricating a contest between the Southern Cameroons Interim Government and their unpopular one-man-show style of resistance. Though there is plenty at stake there. In fact, this tactical struggle for the agenda of social media coverage of the Ambazonian revolution has really affected the resistance greatly and caused the lives of hundreds of innocent Southern Cameroons civilians.
Doubt, lack of confidence, disillusion, political apathy and cynicism is hampering the smooth running of the Ambazonian Interim Government. Interest in Southern Cameroons political philosophy and ideology, is very low now amongst our people in Europe, South Africa and the USA including Canada. There is far greater involvement by those on Ground Zero than Ambazonians in the Diaspora.
The more complex truth is that the Southern Cameroons Diaspora political elite are materialistic and transactional about the politics of liberation – but this isn’t the same thing as being cynical or selfish.
Of course, if the people of Southern Cameroons really want to win this war of liberation, it requires for all Ambazonians to rally behind the Interim Government now to reproduce the discipline that was put in place by Interim President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and to see through the politics of distractions, to what matters: progress in resistance and protection to our wounded and refugees in Nigeria and those living in the bushes. But for Cho Ayaba, Akwanga and Ivo, its simply about the money.
To this I put my name
By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai