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As part of two major court maneuvers, the special advocate is expected to unveil new details of his investigation Friday that will make life even more uncomfortable for President Donald Trump and his immediate entourage.
Mueller Must Face a Deadline Explain to a judge in Washington why he accused Paul Manafort, the former president of the campaign, already sentenced and jailed, for lying and d & # 39; to have broken a cooperation agreement.
He must also hand over to a New York court documents in which he recommends the lawyer Michael Cohen should go to jail and for how long after Cohen turned against his former client and agreed to cooperate with the special council.
In anticipation of what might turn out to be a pivotal day of the investigation, Trump is picking on something else. to Mueller's team.
"Is This Really America? The Witches Hunt!" Trump tweeted after quoting a Fox News host who had criticized the investigation.
Neither of Friday's deadlines involve an action directly involving the President in any wrongdoing, more 18 months after Mueller was chosen to find out if Trump's campaign had been equated with Russian electoral interference in 2016.
But in recent weeks, it has become clear that the special council uses procedures and procedures concerning key witnesses and former Trump associates to suggest dubious behavior on the part of the president
Since then, Mueller has constructed a mosaic of statements that began with the story of a hacking operation by Moscow intelligence agencies and revealed multiple links between Russians and Trump residents – and many lies about these contacts.
The activity will end a troubling week for Trump during which it became apparent that the investigation is much broader beneath the surface than is publicly apparent. It can now be said that Mueller is digging into possible collusion with the Russians, an obstruction of justice, contacts with Russian officials during Trump's transition, possible violations of election campaign funding, and the president's trade secrets.
If that was not enough, Trump's longtime informal political advisor, Roger Stone – who is under investigation for alleged co-operation with WikiLeaks – sent out pirated emails. of the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee by Russian agents – said that he would not turn against the president.
"It is not Russian connivance, but the parsing of words," Stone said. "It's about process crimes and perjury traps, and I refuse to participate." were committed after the signing of an advocacy agreement by the lobby group and hinted that the former campaign president was asking for a presidential pardon.
The revelations from Mueller's team will be closely watched to see if Manafort, who risks spending money on his life in jail, has lied about activities that may involve Trump or senior campaign officials, or solely on business interests in Ukraine that led to accusations of fraud or other issues.
Manafort's lawyers denied having lied and will have the opportunity to challenge the Special Advocate's assertions before the date of his conviction on March 5. [19659002] It is possible that some of Mueller's explanations are obscured, as in the Flynn file. A spokesman for the board's special board said that at least some of the file would be public.
Impeachment lawyer Ross Garber said Thursday at CNN's "New Day" that it was not normal for co-operation. "It will be interesting to see if something new has appeared that nobody expected, but it's quite unusual," Garber said.
Mueller's Mueller's The decision to impose himself on Manafort but to offer leniency to Flynn has been widely interpreted as a sign that he will reward those involved in the investigation who are willing to tell the truth about what happened – but do not tolerate any hindrance.
Cohen restores the "compass" of his life
Cohen asked the court to impose a non-custodial sentence after recognizing tax evasion and lying to Congress about the commercial aspirations of Trump in Moscow to preserve the president & # 39; political narrative that he had no connection with Russia.
Cohen's lawyers stated in a note that their client – turning to Trump, for whom he had once said that he would take a bullet – had decided on the internal compass to the true north, towards a productive life, ethical and fully in accordance with the law. "
Sentencing documents filed by both parties in the case have linked important points of the investigation."
In fact, the project was alive until June 2016 , according to a statement filed in court by Mueller, who reportedly told Cohen
The revelations were important because Trump had insisted throughout the campaign that he had no commercial ties with Russia. 19659002] They also raised the question of whether the President was indebted to Russia for a long period of the campaign and made his eulogistic statements about President Vladimir Putin in order to promote his own interest
Cohen also pleaded guilty to hidden money campaign financing offenses paid to women
"Michael informed his client at the same time and followed his client's instructions ", wrote Cohen's lawyers in their sentencing memo.
"Michael's felt compelled to assist the client-1, (Trump) on the instructions of the client-1, in order to prevent Woman-1 and Woman-2 from broadcasting stories likely to harm the campaign and cause personal embarrassment to client-1 and his family. "
Cohen, 46 years to 63 months in prison under his original plea agreement with New York prosecutors , hopes that Mueller will grant him the same kind of favorable treatment as Flynn. The special attorney said in court this week that "because of Flynn's cooperation with the investigation, the former national security advisor should not be sentenced to a death penalty." # 39; imprisonment. The removal of the documents accompanying the application, however, precluded an assessment of what that cooperation entailed and whether that put the president in danger.
Trump reacted angrily to the idea that Cohen could get a break from Mueller in exchange for his cooperation.
"He lied for this result and should, in my opinion, serve a full sentence," tweeted the president earlier this week.
According to the details that Mueller chooses to unveil on Friday, it is almost certain that Trump's allies will support the well-known argument that the special council has not yet proven any cooperation between Russia and Russia. the campaign – the initial mandate of the investigation.
But with every gesture he undertakes, Mueller seems to get closer to the person closest to the president himself, so in the broadest sense, there is every chance that Friday is a new difficult day before the Trump court.
