Meanwhile, the president’s old ghosts are continuing to haunt him.
His former campaign manager Paul Manafort is scheduled for sentencing later today, seven months after being found guilty of two counts of bank fraud, five counts of tax fraud and one count of failing to declare a foreign bank account by a US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia.
The government says Manafort’s misconduct involved more than $16m (£12m) in unreported income, more than $55m (£42m) hidden in foreign bank accounts and more than $25m (£19m) secured through lies to banks.
Manafort, 69, faces as many as 24 years in prison and millions of dollars in financial penalties. The decision on how much to punish Manafort lies in the hands of Judge TS Ellis III, a man known for cautioning defendants before pronouncing sentence with the words: “You write the pages of your own life.”
The case against the veteran lobbyist was brought by the Justice Department as part of FBI special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and related to Manafort’s work overseas in Ukraine.
“Manafort did not commit these crimes out of necessity or hardship,” Mr Mueller’s office wrote in its sentencing memo.
“He was well educated, professionally successful, and financially well off. He nonetheless cheated the United States Treasury and the public out of more than $6m (£4.6m) in taxes at a time when he had substantial resources.”
Manafort’s lawyers are pleading for leniency and insist their client is “truly remorseful for his conduct”.
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