Special Counsel Robert Mueller has accused Paul Manafort of violating his plea agreement by lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Special Counsel's Office. Manafort, who was President Donald Trump's campaign manager, agreed to cooperate with the investigation in order to avoid a second trial over financial crimes relating to his work as a political consultant in Ukraine.
“After signing the plea agreement, Manafort committed federal crimes by lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Special Counsel’s Office on a variety of subject matters, which constitute breaches of the agreement," Mueller's team said in court documents.
Manafort has denied the claims that he lied to investigators.
"Manafort has provided information to the government in an effort to live up to his cooperation obligations. He believes he has provided truthful information and does not agree with the government’s characterization or that he has breached the agreement," his lawyers said in the court filing.
The government said that it will detail the instances in which Manafort lied to investigators in future filings with the court.
An article by the Guardian claims that Manafort traveled the United Kingdom to meet with Wikileaks founder Jullian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy. The two reportedly met three times, with the most recent meeting occurring in 2016, around the same time Manafort took the job to manage Trump's campaign.
Both Manafort and Assange have denied meeting each other.
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