Special Counsel Robert Mueller reportedly believes Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort lied about his lobbying income and meeting with Russian-Ukrainian political operative Konstantin Kilimnik.
- Special counsel Robert Mueller accused Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chief, of lying to the FBI and Mueller's office earlier this week.
- Those alleged lies include information about Manafort's personal income from his lobbying work and possible meeting with Russian-Ukrainian political operative Konstantin Kilimnik, The Wall Street Journal reported.
- Mueller's team is reportedly looking into a boat trip that Manafort took with real estate developer Tom Barrack, during which he may have met with Kilimnik.
Special counsel Robert Mueller reportedly believes that President Donald Trump's campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, lied about his lobbying income and meeting with a Russian-Ukrainian political operative, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The report provides further details of a court filing that Mueller issued on Monday, which accused Manafort of lying to the FBI and Mueller's office "on a variety of subject matters."
Mueller's office said Manafort made inaccurate statements in his interviews with Mueller's office about his communications with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian-Ukrainian political operative and Manafort's longtime associate, The Journal reported.
Thomson Reuters
Mueller issued a Monday accusing Manafort of lying to the FBI and Mueller's office "on a variety of subject matters."
Mueller charged Manafort and Kilimnik this June with conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice. The special counsel accused the pair of attempting to tamper with witness testimony over several days in February, after their associate Rick Gates pleaded guilty and began cooperating with prosecutors.
One particular line of inquiry Mueller is probing is a boat trip that Manafort took with Tom Barrack, Trump's friend and real estate developer, after Manafort resigned from the Trump campaign in August 2016.
Investigators are trying to figure out if Manafort met with Kilimnik on that trip, The Journal reported.
Stephen Shugerman / Stringer
Mueller's team are looking into a boat trip that Manafort took with Tom Barrack, a real estate developer, after Manafort left the Trump campaign in August 2016.
Kilimnik is a former Russian military intelligence officer, whose name grabbed headlines last year when it emerged that Manafort may have tried to use his role in the Trump campaign to resolve a financial dispute with Russian-Ukrainian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Manafort also allegedly misrepresented information about his income received from his lobbying work, The Journal reported.
It's not clear if prosecutors plan to accuse Manafort of further lies, as those statements appear not to be central to Mueller's probe into the Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, The Journal said.
The special counsel's office on Monday said that "the nature of the defendant's [Manafort's] crimes and lies, including those after signing the plea agreement," freed them of any obligation from the plea agreement.