According to The Wall Street Journal, Special Counsel Robert Mueller terminated his plea agreement with Paul Manafort this week after determining the Trump campaign chairman was lying about "his personal business dealings and about his contacts with a former associate in Ukraine."
Investigators alleged that Mr. Manafort made inaccurate statements in interviews with Mr. Mueller’s team about his communications with Konstantin Kilimnik, said the people familiar with the matter.
Mr. Kilimnik, who Mr. Mueller charged earlier this year along with Mr. Manafort with trying to influence the testimony of two witnesses against Mr. Manafort, had worked for Mr. Manafort’s lobbying firm in Ukraine. Messrs. Manafort and Kilimnik communicated earlier this year about contacting others who worked with them in an alleged effort to coordinate their stories, according to an indictment Mr. Mueller filed against them.
Mr. Kilimnik, whom the FBI has assessed to have ties to Russian intelligence, according to a filing by the special counsel’s office, isn’t in custody and hasn’t responded to the charges in court.
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Mr. Mueller has long been interested in the relationship between Messrs. Manafort and Kilimnik. He has questioned witnesses about a boat trip that Mr. Manafort took with Tom Barrack, a longtime friend of Mr. Trump, after Mr. Manafort was ousted from the Trump campaign in August 2016, say people familiar with the matter. Witnesses believed investigators were seeking to determine whether Mr. Manafort ever met with Mr. Kilimnik on that trip.
In his conversations with Mr. Mueller’s team, Mr. Manafort also allegedly misrepresented information about payments he received related to his lobbying work, the people familiar with the matter said.
A judge plans to set a date on Friday for Mr. Manafort’s sentencing, now that his cooperation with Mr. Mueller has reached an apparent impasse. Before that sentencing, Mr. Mueller’s office will submit a memo outlining Mr. Manafort’s alleged misdeeds in more detail.
Manafort Lied About Business Dealings, Mueller’s Team Believes (WSJ) *Note: Wall Street Journal articles appear behind a paywall