Former campaign manager for U.S. President Donald Trump, Paul Manafort, leaves U.S. District Court after pleading not guilty following his indictment on federal charges on October 30, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Robert Mueller, the Special Counsel looking into Russian meddling in the 2016 election has drawn first blood in the investigation.
His team filed charges against three of President Trump’s former campaign officials – the onetime campaign chairman Paul Manafort, his associate Rick Gates, and foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos.While Papadopoulos was tagged for making a false statement to FBI investigators, Manafort and Gates were both indicted on 12 counts, to which they have since pleaded not guilty. The charges included conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, being unregistered agent of a foreign principal, making false and misleading statements and seven counts of failing to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts.
Of all the charges, the “conspiracy against the United States” is perhaps the most dramatic and relevant to the ongoing investigation into whether Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with members of the Russian government to influence the U.S. elections. But while it sounds almost like treason, the charge isn’t necessarily as serious.
What does the charge actually say? Here’s how the indictment related it, saying Manafort and Gates are charged with –
“knowingly and intentionally [conspiring] to defraud the United…
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