Giuliani says possible Manafort plea deal not a concern

Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday downplayed reports that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is discussing a possible plea deal, telling Politico that he doesn’t believe Manafort will turn on President Trump.

“From our perspective we want him to do the right thing for himself,” said Giuliani, who serves as Trump’s lawyer in the Russia investigation.

“There’s no fear that Paul Manafort would cooperate against the president because there’s nothing to cooperate about and we long ago evaluated him as an honorable man,” he added.

{mosads}The former New York City mayor went on to say that if Mueller was going to get anything from Manafort “they’d have gotten it already.”

“We can see a reason why he might want to do that. What’s the need for another trial?” Giuliani told Politico. “They’ve got enough to put him in jail. His lawyer is going to argue they shouldn’t. The judge should decide this. Not Mueller. I think it’s pretty clear if they were going to get anything from him they’d have gotten it already.”

ABC News reported Wednesday that Manafort is pushing for a plea deal that would keep him from having to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. That followed other reports that indicated Manafort was open to a plea agreement to avoid his second trial related to the Mueller probe.

Manafort was convicted last month on bank and tax fraud charges in a trial in Virginia. He is scheduled to go on trial later this month in Washington, D.C., on charges of conspiracy to launder money and failing to register as a foreign lobbyist.

Giuliani has previously downplayed reports that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen would cooperate with prosecutors, calling him an “honorable” lawyer.

Cohen last month pleaded guilty to bank fraud, tax fraud and campaign finance law violations, telling the court that he committed the latter crime at Trump’s direction.