@OeuvrePressure
This just in could, uh... be it:
Robert Mueller got another cooperator
Sam Patten, an associate of Paul Manafort and Cambridge Analytica, struck a plea deal.
"The Mueller investigation has resulted in yet another plea deal. Sam Patten, a Republican lobbyist, pleaded guilty Friday to violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act in his unregistered work for a Ukrainian politician and a Ukrainian oligarch — and agreed to cooperate with the government.
Patten was charged by the US attorney’s office for the District of Columbia. But Mueller’s team referred the investigation there and Patten’s
plea agreement specifically says he must cooperate with the special counsel’s office. Andrew Weissmann, an attorney on Mueller’s team,
attended Patten’s hearing Friday...."
"Specifically, the document claims that Patten contacted members of Congress and their staffers, State Department officials, and members of the press on behalf of his Ukrainian clients — all without registering under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, as required by law.
Patten also admits to helping his Ukrainian oligarch client get around the prohibition on foreign donations to Donald Trump’s inauguration committee. The oligarch sent $50,000 to Patten’s company, and then he gave that money to a US citizen, who bought the four tickets. The tickets were used for the oligarch, Kilimnik, another Ukrainian, and Patten himself to attend the inauguration.
Finally,
Patten also admits to misleading the Senate Intelligence Committee and withholding documents from them during testimony this January...."
"Either because of lack of resources or a desire to avoid expanding his probe too much beyond the central players in the Russia investigation, Mueller is now known to have referred several potentially criminal matters he has discovered to other offices in the Justice Department to investigate.
The special counsel
reportedly referred another inquiry of prominent Washington figures’ Ukrainian lobbying to the US attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), this one concerning Tony Podesta, Vin Weber, and Greg Craig. (This trio worked with Manafort and his associate Rick Gates on some of their Ukraine projects.)
Mueller also referred the investigation of Michael Cohen for tax and campaign finance violations
to SDNY (though he appears to have
continued investigating Cohen on matters related to Russia). Cohen pleaded guilty on eight counts in the SDNY case last week.
The charge here — not registering as a foreign agent under FARA — is believed to be widespread in Washington, but it is rarely prosecuted. Mueller’s probe, however, seems to have turned up a plethora of evidence of such violations, even for figures he hasn’t closely focused on.
The Patten investigation is the third known probe Mueller has referred. Yet this does not seem to have been a complete handoff, since his plea agreement specifically mentions he must cooperate with the special counsel’s office. So Patten has become Mueller’s newest cooperator."
See,
@waiguoren, this is a context where mentioning a person as an associate isn't disingenuous or misleading, unlike your Breitbart piece. Incidentally, does this sound like prosecutorial over-reach to you?
"Either because of lack of resources or a desire to avoid expanding his probe too much beyond the central players in the Russia investigation, Mueller is now known to have referred several potentially criminal matters he has discovered to other offices in the Justice Department to investigate."
Again,
@OeuvrePressure, I suggest we give the 24-hour news cycle chance to digest that and we can decide tomorrow if it (or any further revelations today) meet our criterion (and yes, that's how you say it #fuckoffsheldon).
