Paul Manafort’s legal team requested an extension to respond to the Special Counsel’s recent filing regarding his plea agreement breach. The papers were filed on 16 January with the D.C. District Court and noted that Mueller’s declaration is “31-pages long and has more than 800 pages of exhibits” and his lawyers need additional time to review and reply. The request for extra time was cleared with the Special Counsel’s Office. Their extension date is tentatively set for 23 January.
Manafort, who served as Donald Trump’s campaign manager, was expelled from the campaign when his prior relationship with the Russian-centric and ousted president of Ukraine was exposed.
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In August 2018, Manafort was convicted of multiple crimes by a Virginia federal jury and faced a prison sentence of nearly 20 years. A month later, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy against the U.S. and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice for attempted witness tampering. At the time, he agreed to cooperate with the Special Counsel. However, in the ensuing months, Manafort betrayed the basic guidelines of the plea agreement by repeatedly lying, as detailed in the heavily redacted declaration issued on 15 January.
