LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA INVESTIGATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump on Wednesday [9-19-18] morning insisted he had no concerns about former campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s recent agreement to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller…As part of a guilty plea struck last Friday [9-14-18], Manafort agreed to cooperate fully with Mueller’s probe into Russian interference and whether the Trump campaign aided the Kremlin in its efforts. The cooperation deal, which includes no restrictions on what topics Manafort can discuss with Mueller’s team, was surprising to some given Manafort’s prior vows to fight the charges against him — and Trump’s praise of those efforts. Trump on Wednesday continued to compliment his former senior campaign aide…Manafort’s guilty plea came after he was convicted on eight counts of bank and tax fraud in a Virginia trial and several days before he was set to face a second trial in Washington, D.C., on foreign-lobbying and money-laundering charges. The guilty plea scuttles the D.C. trial and calls for a cap on the prison sentence Manafort is expected to receive.”
-Ramsen Shamon, “Trump on Manafort: ‘I believe that he will tell the truth’,” Politico, September 19, 2018 10:52 am