Paul Manafort’s lies are brought forward
Special counsel Robert Mueller of the Russia probe says that Paul Manafort lied to the FBI even after agreeing to cooperate with officials. According to Mueller, Manafort lied about funds and contacts with the Trump administration.
Former Trump campaign chairman Manafort is already a convicted felon. In August 2018, he pleaded guilty to five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud, and one count of failure to divulge foreign bank accounts. In September, he pleaded guilty on two counts of conspiracy.
On Dec. 7, Mueller released a redacted document which contained information regarding Manafort’s communication with both Trump officials and foreign entities even after his indictment in 2017. During this time, while seemingly working with the FBI, Manafort was feeding information about the investigation to the Trump administration.
With these new findings, any previous deal is off the table for Manafort, as he becomes the sixth defendant to face sentencing in the Mueller probe. Should he plead guilty, Manafort faces 17-22 years in prison, per his new plea deal.
Federal prosecutors recommend imprisonment for Michael Cohen
Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen made headlines this week with his unusual legal strategy: confessing everything without any formal plea bargain. Cohen, already found guilty of tax and bank fraud as well as conspiracy during the 2016 election, could face more charges in light of the memo released by Mueller on Dec. 7.
Official sentencing is set to occur on Dec. 12, but federal judges are already recommending anywhere from 51 to 63 months of imprisonment.
This sentence is only minimally shorter than the traditional sentence for those without plea bargains. This scenario is uncommon because plea deals typically involve a significant reduction of imprisonment time.
Grammy nominations cause controversy
The comprehensive list of nominees for the 2019 Grammy Awards was released on Dec. 7 and was met with mixed reactions. Stars such as Ariana Grande, Beyonce, and Taylor Swift were noticeably absent from the “big ticket” categories such as album, artist, and song of the year.
For many, this came as a shock as Grande, Swift and Beyonce each produced some of the top songs of 2018.
Artists Drake and Kendrick Lamar walked away with the most nominations, earning eight and seven respectively.
