Dec. 11 (UPI) — A federal judge has scheduled a status hearing Tuesday, on prosecutors’ request that Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman for President Donald Trump, violated his plea agreement by lying to special counsel Robert Mueller.
On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson asked defense and prosecution attorneys to appear for a scheduling conference at 3 p.m. Tuesday.
The judge also lifted a deadline by Wednesday that Manafort’s attorneys must respond to a submission from Mueller’s team Friday detailing incidences Manafort lied. On Nov. 26, Mueller said Manafort “committed federal crimes by lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Special Counsel’s Office on a variety of subject matters,” without offering details.
In September, Manafort agreed to plead guilty to charges of unregistered foreign lobbying and money laundering in exchange for agreeing to cooperate with Mueller.
One month earlier, Manafort was convicted on eight federal bank and tax fraud charges in Virginia.
Manafort is scheduled to be sentenced in Virginia in February and in Washington in March.
With the violation, prosecutors could seek to file new charges from the alleged lies and whether he could lose certain terms under the plea deal.
Manafort’s lawyers have said their client did his best to provide useful and truthful answers to prosecutors’ questions.
In the filing last week, Mueller’s office says Manafort made false statements about contacts with the Trump administration. In addition, he allegedly misled investigators in conversations about a separate Justice Department investigation and interactions with a Russian associate with ties to Moscow’s intelligence services, according to Mueller’s office.
Manafort is in a detention center in Alexandria, Va.
On Monday, NBC News reported that Manafort plans to respond to the allegations in a filing this week.
