COURT/PAUL MANAFORT/RUSSIA INVESTIGATION/TRUMP PEOPLE: “A federal judge revealed more about her reasoning in finding Paul Manafort had lied about his contacts with his Russian associate and that Konstantin Kilimnik was pertinent to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation for multiple reasons, according to a newly released redacted transcript Friday of a sealed court hearing earlier this week. During the hearing, US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson found that Manafort had ‘intentionally’ lied to the federal government by saying he had ended a discussion he and his colleague Kilimnik had in August 2016 over an issue that appears to relate to Ukraine and sanctions…Jackson acknowledges that whether or not Kilimnik was a Russian spy, as prosecutors have suggested, he’s still significant to the Mueller investigation because he was a link between the Russian government and the Trump campaign, which Mueller was tasked to investigate…Jackson also appears to think that Mueller’s office knows of additional contacts Manafort had with the Trump administration in 2017 and 2018 — another topic they discussed at the hearing — outside of the interactions prosecutors alleged he had lied about. The judge decided he didn’t intentionally mislead the prosecutors about contact he may have sought with administration officials.”
–Katelyn Polantz, “In redacted transcript, judge describes why she believes Manafort lied about discussions with Kilimnik,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, February 15, 2019 9:47 pm