Manafort and Gates, were charged with "conspiracy against the United States," "conspiracy to launder money" and other offenses. The two were expected in court in Washington by the afternoon.
The Justice Department indictment on Manafort and Gates contains 12 counts: "conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading FARA statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts."
Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI.
The Manafort and Gates indictment unsealed on Monday morning does not make any reference to Russia's influence campaign against the presidential election, but it does allege extensive financial ties between Manafort and Gates and powerful Ukrainians.
The Papadopoulos materials, on the other hand, detail the many contacts investigators say he had with Russian-linked operatives. He met at least two people, a man and a woman, who the FBI says were working for the Russian government and had boasted to him about the help it could offer the Trump campaign against Clinton.
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(Score: 2) by Bobs on Tuesday October 31 2017, @02:09PM
True, but that is why Mueller partnered with the NY State Attorney General with the ability to bring state-level charges.
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/30/manafort-mueller-probe-attorney-general-242191 [politico.com]
Trump can only pardon for Federal crimes, he can't touch state-level ones.
So Mueller can line up both state and federal crimes on the lower level folks in order to flip them into testifying higher up the food chain and they won't be able to be pardoned away.
Also, Mueller might wait until Trump is out of office: then Trump can't pardon.
The Repub's have been pardoning away major crimes for decades (Ford, Reagan, Bush) and they have finally come up with a way to prosecute them anyway.