7 WTF Revelations From the ‘Criminal Information’ at the Center of Paul Manafort’s Guilty Plea

In conjunction with Paul Manafort’s guilty plea Friday before the federal District Court of Washington, D.C., Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed 76 pages of “Superseding Criminal Information,” detailing wrongdoing by the disgraced Republican lobbyist who served as chair of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.  

In the document, outlining Manafort’s illegal financial dealing and unlawful lobbying activities on behalf of Ukraine, Mueller reveals that Manafort talks to his associates like a wiseguy on the Sopranos; “laundered” millions of dollars; and “knowingly and intentionally” deceived the Department of Justice, among other malfeasance, including “witness tampering.”

Here, Rolling Stone has compiled the seven most WTF details from Mueller’s document, revealing the character of the criminal president Trump has praised as a “brave man!”

1. Manafort “Laundered” Millions
“Manafort laundered more than $30 million to buy property, goods, and services in the United States, income that he concealed from the United States Treasury, the Department of Justice, and others. MANAFORT cheated the United States out of over $15 million in taxes.”

2. Manafort Lobbied Illegally
“MANAFORT knew it was illegal to lobby government officials and engage in public relations activities (hereinafter collectively referred to as lobbying) in the United States on behalf of a foreign government or political party, without registering with the United States Government under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. MANAFORT knew he was lobbying in the United States for the Government of Ukraine.”

3. The Lobbying Reached the Highest Ranks of U.S. Government
“They lobbied dozens of Members of Congress, their staff, and White House and State Department officials about Ukraine sanctions, the validity of Ukraine elections, and the propriety of President Yanukovych’s imprisoning Tymoshenko, his presidential rival.”

4. Manafort Leveraged People He Called “Obama Jews”
“In addition to disseminating stories about her [Tymoshenko] soliciting murder, noted above, in October 2012, MANAFORT orchestrated a scheme to have, as he wrote in a contemporaneous communication, “[O]bama jews” put pressure on the Administration to disavow Tymoshenko and support Yanukovych.”

5. Manafort Talks Like “Paulie Walnuts” From the Sopranos
“MANAFORT then, with secret advance knowledge of that Israeli statement, worked to disseminate this story in the United States, writing to Person D1 “I have someone pushing it on the NY Post. Bada bing bada boom.”

6. Manafort Lied to the Feds Through His Lawyer
“MANAFORT and Gates conspired to knowingly and intentionally cause false and misleading letters to be submitted to the Department of Justice, through his unwitting legal counsel”

7. Manafort Engaged in “Witness Tampering”
“The defendant PAUL J. MANAFORT, JR., together with others, including Konstantin Kilimnik, knowingly and intentionally conspired to corruptly persuade another person…with intent to influence, delay and prevent the testimony of any person in an official proceeding, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(1).”