US President Donald Trump's former campaign chief Paul Manafort has agreed to plead guilty to two criminal counts in the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, court documents showed on Friday.
Seven charges in a previous indictment against Manafort were reduced to just two in a criminal information submitted to the court on Friday, signaling a deal had been agreed with Manafort's lawyers to accept guilt.
Photo shows US President Donald Trump (L) at the White House, January 4, 2018 and Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Capitol Hill in 2013. /VCG Photo
According to documents filed in the US, Manafort will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy against the United States and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.
The move could be a blow to Trump, who last month praised his former aide "a brave man" for not entering into an agreement with prosecutors, as the president's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen had.
Manafort's decision came three weeks after he was convicted in a separate trial on eight counts related to financial fraud, and as Mueller's investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia increasingly pressures the White House.
A protester holds up a sign after the jury announced verdicts during the trial for former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort in Virginia, August 21, 2018. /VCG Photo
The charge of conspiracy against the United States includes money laundering, tax fraud, failing to disclose his foreign bank accounts, and acting as an unregistered lobbyist for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine, the court filing confirmed.
The second count, for conspiracy to obstruct justice, relates to attempts to tamper with witnesses related to his foreign lobbying.