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Judge finds that Paul Manafort lied to special counsel

A federal judge has ruled that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort breached his plea agreement with special counsel Robert Mueller's office by lying to the FBI, a federal grand jury and the special counsel. "[T]he Office of Special Counsel is no longer bound by its obligations under the plea agreement," Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in a ruling after a hearing Wednesday.

The ruling means the special counsel is released from its promise to support a reduced sentence for Manafort in exchange for his cooperation. The government can also now file additional charges against Manafort, but does not plan to do so at this point.

In November 2018, Mueller's office told the court Manafort had lied to investigators about five aspects of its investigation while he was supposed to be cooperating. Jackson ruled Manafort lied to the government about three of those instances. 

Since November 2017, Jackson has kept the case under a gag order, banning the government and lawyers for Manafort and his former associate Rick Gates from speaking to the press.

More at CBSNews.com.


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