Special Counsel prosecutor Andrew Weissmann tips its hand, says Russian sanctions are at the center of the investigation.
Robert Mueller’s investigators are still very much targeting the Trump campaign for collusion with the Russians and a newly unsealed court document proves it.
During a routine sentencing hearing for Paul Manafort last week, Robert Mueller’s lead prosecutor Andrew Weissmann tipped the Special Counsel’s hand.
Special Counsel prosecutor suggests Trump campaign made a deal with Russia
In the hearing, Weissmann makes the case that team Trump worked on plans to give Russia relief from sanctions and a more favorable U.S. policy in Ukraine in exchange for Russia’s help on the 2016 campaign.
Weismann made the argument when discussing with the judge how Paul Manafort and his Russian intelligence ally Konstantin Kilimnik repeatedly discussed a peace plan for Ukraine. The conversations started while Manafort was still running Trump’s campaign in early August 2016 and continued into 2018 after Manafot was charged by Special Counsel Mueller.
According to the newly released court transcript, Weismann said the exchange of sanctions relief for help with the campaign, “This goes to the larger view of what we think is going on, and what we think is the motive here. This goes, I think, very much to the heart of what the special counsel’s office is investigating.”
Weismann’s comments are all the more significant when you consider that the purpose of court hearing was a narrow debate about whether Manafort had breached his plea agreement by misleading the prosecutors about Kilimnik and obstructed justice.
Weismann’s comments confirm that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is still very much investigating the central question whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to steal the 2016 election.
Weismann’s comments were first pointed out by the New York Times here.
[Image via James Ledbetter/Flickr]
