Paul Manafort's statements about his overseas political consulting business are the crux of what led to special counsel Robert Mueller to declare a breach of his plea agreement, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
Manafort claims to have provided "truthful information" about his personal business and contacts with an ex-associate in Ukraine, but Mueller's team considers them to be "lies," sources told the Journal.
While those statements are not necessarily tied to the 2016 election meddling investigation, investigators do consider them offenses of lying to federal prosecutors and a violation of his cooperation agreement with the special counsel investigation into potential Trump campaign ties to the Russia meddling effort.
The ex-associate from a Ukraine lobbying firm is Konstantin Kilimnik, sources told the Journal, who was charged with Manafort for attempts to coordinate stories from two witnesses providing information on Manafort. Kilimnik has ties to Russian intelligence, court documents allege, per the Journal.
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