Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election has ensnared dozens of people, including several advisers to
President Donald Trump and a series of Russian nationals and companies.
Rod Rosenstein, the No. 2 U.S. Justice Department official, in May 2017 appointed Mueller to look into whether Trump’s campaign conspired with Russia and whether the Republican president had unlawfully sought to obstruct the probe. Mueller has charged 34 individuals and three companies.
Trump denies collusion and obstruction. Russia denies election interference.
Here is a look at those who have pleaded guilty or have been indicted in Mueller’s inquiry.
Paul Manafort
In August 2018, a jury in Virginia found Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, guilty of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failing to disclose foreign bank accounts.
Manafort was sentenced in March 2019 in the Virginia case to almost four years in prison.
Manafort, who prosecutors said tried to conceal from the U.S. government millions of dollars he was paid as a political consultant for pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians, pleaded guilty in September 2018 to two counts of conspiracy in a separate case in Washington and agreed to cooperate with Mueller. The Washington case had focused on accusations of money laundering and failing to report foreign bank accounts, among other
charges.
He was scheduled to be sentenced in the Washington case on March 13.
A judge on Feb. 13 ruled that Manafort had breached his agreement to cooperate with Mueller by lying to prosecutors about three matters pertinent to the Russia probe, including his interactions with a business partner, Konstantin Kilimnik, who they have said has ties to Russian intelligence.
Michael Cohen
Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, pleaded guilty in August 2018 to crimes including violating campaign laws by orchestrating “hush money” payments before the 2016 election to women who said they’d had sexual encounters with Trump. That case was handled by federal prosecutors in New York, not Mueller’s office.
As part of a separate agreement with Mueller’s team, Cohen pleaded guilty in November 2018 of lying to Congress about negotiations concerning a proposed Trump Tower in Moscow, a project that never materialized.
Cohen in February 2019 testified at a public hearing before a House of Representatives committee. He accused Trump of approving the “hush money” payments and knowing in advance about the 2016 release by the WikiLeaks website of emails that prosecutors have said were stolen by Russia to harm Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid. He said Trump implicitly directed him to lie about the Moscow real estate project.
He promised to keep cooperating with prosecutors and made multiple closed-door appearances before congressional panels.
Michael Flynn
Flynn, Trump’s national security adviser for less than a month in early 2017, pleaded guilty in December 2017 of lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia during Trump’s presidential transition and agreed to cooperate with Mueller.
Trump fired him as national security adviser after it emerged that Flynn had misled Vice President Mike Pence and the FBI about his dealings with the then-Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak. His sentencing is pending.
Roger Stone
The longtime Trump ally and presidential campaign adviser was charged in January 2019 with seven criminal counts including obstruction of an official proceeding, witness tampering and making false statements. He pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors said Stone shared with members of the Trump campaign team advance knowledge of the plan by WikiLeaks to release the stolen Democratic emails. Prosecutors also accused him of trying to interfere with a witness.
Rick Gates
The former deputy chairman of Trump’s campaign, Gates pleaded guilty in February 2018 of conspiracy against the United States and lying to investigators. He agreed to cooperate with Mueller and testified as a prosecution witness against Manafort, his former business partner.
Konstantin Kilimnik
A Manafort aide in Ukraine and a political operative described by prosecutors as linked to Russian intelligence, Kilimnik was charged in June 2018 with tampering with witnesses about their past lobbying for Ukraine’s former pro-Russian government.
Prosecutors said in January 2019 that Manafort shared political polling data with Kilimnik in 2016, providing an indication that Trump’s campaign may have tried to coordinate with Russians.
12 Russian intelligence officers
Twelve Russian intelligence officers were indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2018, accused of hacking the Clinton campaign and Democratic Party organizations as part of a Russian scheme to release emails damaging to Clinton during the 2016 race. They covertly monitored employee computers and planted malicious code, as well as stealing emails and other documents,
according to the indictment.
13 Russian nationals, 3 companies
Thirteen Russians and three Russian companies were indicted in Mueller’s investigation in February 2018, accused of taking part in an elaborate campaign to sow discord in the United States ahead of the 2016 election and harm Clinton’s candidacy in order to boost Trump. The companies included: the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg-based propaganda arm known for trolling on social media; Concord Management and Consulting; and Concord Catering.
George Papadopoulos
The former Trump campaign adviser was sentenced in September 2018 to 14 days in prison after pleading guilty in October 2017 of lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials, including a professor who told him the Russians had “dirt” on Clinton.
Alex Van Der Zwaan
A lawyer who once worked closely with Manafort and Gates, Van Der Zwaan pleaded guilty in February 2018 of lying to Mueller’s investigators about contacts with a Trump campaign official. Van Der Zwaan, the Dutch son-in-law of one of Russia’s richest men, was sentenced in April 2018 to 30 days in prison and fined $20,000.
Richard Pinedo
Pinedo was not involved with the Trump campaign, but in February 2018 he pleaded guilty of identity fraud in a case related to the Mueller investigation for helping Russian conspirators launder money, purchase Facebook ads and pay for supplies.
He was sentenced in October 2018 to six months in jail and six months of home detention.
…
