Mueller set to explain Manafort's 'crimes and lies' on Friday

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is due to file two important documents on Friday: a sentencing memo for President Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen and a report explaining the alleged "crimes and lies" of Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

In August, Manafort was found guilty of tax and bank fraud in Virginia. He agreed in September to cooperate with Mueller's team to avoid a second trial on financial fraud charges in the District of Columbia. Last week, Mueller's office accused Manafort of violating his plea agreement by repeatedly lying to investigators. The special counsel said it would file a document detailing Manafort's "crimes and lies" for the court to take into consideration when sentencing him. "In Manafort's case, we are likely to learn of what may have pushed him to commit legal suicide," former federal prosecutor Kendall Coffey told USA Today.

Cohen has made two separate plea agreements: one with federal prosecutors in New York, and the other with Mueller's team. He pleaded guilty in August to campaign finance violations, and last week, pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the scrapped Trump Tower Moscow project. Mueller's Cohen memo is expected to explain how he cooperated with the special counsel's office. "Given his proximity and centrality to Trump's operation before and after the election, it would be difficult to find any better cooperating witness than Michael Cohen," Coffey said.

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On Tuesday, Mueller's office recommended in a sentencing memo that former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn not receive any prison time, because he had offered "substantial assistance." Flynn provided aid not only with the Russia probe, but two other investigations that remain sealed, including one criminal inquiry.

Also on Friday, former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos will be released from prison after serving a 14-day sentence. He was the first person to plead guilty in the Mueller probe, after lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russians.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.