Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort told his former business partner Richard Gates that it would be stupid to plead guilty because President Trump’s counsel was “going to take care of us,” according to special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
Gates asked Manfaort during the exchange last year whether pardons were discussed and Manafort told him that the word was not directly used, according to the report released Thursday.
“In January 2018, Manafort told Gates that he had talked to the President’s personal counsel and they were ‘going to take care of us,’ ” the report said.{mosads}
“Manafort told Gates it was stupid to plead, saying that he had been in touch with the President’s personal counsel and repeating that they should ‘sit tight’ and ‘we’ll be taken care of,’ ” it continued. “Gates asked Manafort outright if anyone mentioned pardons and Manafort said no one used that word.”
Manafort said he hoped for a pardon but never discussed one with Trump, according to the report.
Manafort and Gates were charged in Mueller’s probe in October 2017. Gates pleaded guilty last year to conspiring against the U.S. and making a false statement to federal officials. Manafort was convicted of filing false tax returns, bank fraud and failing to report foreign bank accounts.
Rudy Giuliani, who represents Trump, told The Washington Post last year that the president asked him for advice on whether to pardon Manafort.
Giuliani clarified later in a statement that his “only conversation about a pardon was a generic one that occurred.”
The Justice Department on Thursday released a redacted version of Mueller’s highly anticipated report on whether there was Russian interference in the 2016 election, including whether Russia colluded with the Trump campaign.