A indictment filed late Friday from Special Counsel Robert Mueller shows new charges against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in the federal investigation into Trump’s ties to Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.Charges include making false statements and money laundering in a foreign lobbying scheme in which Manafort used offshore cash to pay former European politicians to lobby on behalf of pro-Russian interests in Ukraine.The indictment alleges that Manafort used “at least four offshore accounts to wire more than 2 million euros to pay the group of former politicians,” known as the “Hapsburg group,” to take pro-Russia positions and lobby U.S. officials while appearing to be independent. Some of the lobbying activity allegedly took place in the U.S.The new indictment includes many of the same bank fraud and tax evasion charges against Manafort listed in a previous indictment. The document also removes charges against Manafort’s former associate and Trump campaign advisor Rick Gates, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the U.S. and lying to the FBI on Friday.Manafort is now the only Trump advisor charged in the Russia probe who has not pleaded guilty. Former National Security advisor Michael Flynn and former campaign advisor George Papadopoulos also pleaded guilty last year.“I had hoped and expected my business colleague would have had the strength to continue the battle to prove our innocence,” Manafort said in a statement about Gates’ guilty plea Friday. “For reasons yet to surface he chose to do otherwise. This does not alter my commitment to defend myself against the untrue piled up charges contained in the indictments against me.”Read the indictment:
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