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Ex-Trump Aide Manafort Told FBI He Had 'No Chance at Trial'

Associated Press

   WASHINGTON - Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort said he knew
   he "had no chance at trial" when he pleaded guilty last year in special
   counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, according to a summary
   of his interview with investigators that was made public Thursday.

   "When he saw the jury pool questionnaire for the trial (in the District
   of Columbia), Manafort knew it was over," an FBI agent wrote in
   summarizing the interview. "He struck 90 of the 120 potential jurors
   based on their answers and thought the rest were lying."

   Between the judge and the jury, the agent wrote, Manafort thought "he
   had no chance at trial." By that point, Manafort had pleaded guilty in
   Washington's federal court and been found guilty by a jury in Virginia
   of similar financial charges. He is now serving more than seven years
   in prison.

   Press sues, documents released

   The write-up of the interview was among hundreds of pages of heavily
   redacted documents released by the Justice Department in response to
   public records lawsuits from BuzzFeed News and CNN. It was the third
   such disclosure of records, all consisting of summaries of interviews
   that FBI agents and Mueller team members did with key aides and
   confidants of President Donald Trump.

   Separately, Manafort made clear that Trump's distrust of the FBI and
   the Justice Department long predates his presidency and the
   investigation into ties between his presidential campaign and Russia.

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