Attorney pleads guilty to lying in Russia special counsel probe
February 21, 2018 by admin
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Lawyer Alex Van Der Zwaan is accused of lying to federal agents regarding the last conversations he had with ex-Trump aide Rick Gates in August 2016.
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WASHINGTON – A Dutch attorney pleaded guilty Tuesday to lying to the FBI about his work with two of President Trump’s former campaign aides, the latest criminal case in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Prosecutors working for Mueller revealed charges Tuesday morning that the lawyer, Alex Van Der Zwaan, lied to agents about his conversations with former Trump aide Rick Gates, who was indicted last year on charges related to his work on behalf of pro-Russian factions in Ukraine. Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was charged along with Gates.
Van Der Zwaan acknowledged making false statements about his contacts with Gates and an individual prosecutors identified as “Person A.”
Van Der Zwaan has cooperated with Mueller’s investigation, U.S. District Judge Amy Jackson said.
The case centered on Van Der Zwaan’s work in 2012 on a report supporting the prosecution of a chief political rival to the then-president of Ukraine, whose government was supported by the lobbying work of Manafort and Gates.
Manafort and Gates, who were indicted in October on money laundering and fraud charges, are accused of secretly funneling $4 million from an offshore account to pay for the prosecution report.
“I plead guilty,” Van Der Zwaan said.
The charge, outlined in a two-page filing, states that Van Der Zwaan, the son-in-law of Russian oligarch German Khan, secretly recorded telephone conversations with Gates in September 2016. The specific content of those conversations, which involved “Person A,” was not disclosed.
Gates has long had a close professional association with Manafort, which extended to Trump’s presidential campaign. Manafort joined the Trump campaign in March 2016 and worked with Gates in wrangling delegates before the Republican National Convention. When Manafort took over management of the campaign in June of that year, Gates signed on as his deputy.
Van Der Zwaan, an associate in the London office of law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher Flom, is accused of lying to federal agents about his contacts with Gates in August 2016 and failing to turn over email communication to federal investigators.
According to court documents, Van Der Zwaan allegedly made the false statements Nov. 3, days after the charges against Manafort and Gates were made public.
Van Der Zwaan’s attorney, William Schwartz, said his client has been in the USA since Nov. 3, when he was questioned by FBI agents working for Mueller.
Van Der Zwaan is scheduled to be sentenced April 3. Although the charge of lying to the FBI carries a maximum of five years in prison, he could be eligible for a term of up to six months, based on his clean record and cooperation with the government.
Schwartz asked that his client’s sentencing be expedited, so he could be with his pregnant wife who is due to give birth in August.
The attorney is the third person charged with lying to federal agents as part of the wide-ranging inquiry, which featured the indictment of 13 Russians and three Russian companies last week in connection with their alleged efforts to interfere with the 2016 elections.
Van Der Zwaan is the fourth person to plead guilty to federal charges in Mueller’s investigation.
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North Korea Dropped Out of Meeting With Pence at Last Minute, US Says
February 21, 2018 by admin
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What they did not disclose then was that they believed both of those conditions had been met for an encounter already scheduled to occur.
“The vice president was ready to take this opportunity to drive home the necessity of North Korea abandoning its illicit ballistic missile and nuclear programs,” Ms. Nauert said on Tuesday.
For much of the past year, the White House has used a combination of increasingly tough economic sanctions and blistering language — including threats of military action — to try to get the North to stop, and even reverse, its missile and nuclear development programs.
United States officials have publicly insisted that they would agree to talks with Pyongyang only if North Korea agreed beforehand to give up its weapons programs, a precondition most observers believed was a nonstarter for the country.
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But in the administration, a fierce debate has raged about whether to drop the preconditions, and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea is known to favor talks. About six months ago, President Trump referred to Mr. Moon’s overtures to the North as “appeasement.” Mr. Trump also dismissed Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson’s suggestions of dialogue with the North as premature or a waste of time.
But it was never clear whether the North itself was interested in talks, preconditions or no. Under President Barack Obama, repeated efforts at opening a back channel to seek dialogue were rebuffed by Pyongyang.
Past American administrations have rewarded North Korea’s decision to begin negotiations by providing food aid and some sanctions relief. But even if there are now no preconditions for talks, the Trump administration still insists that North Korea will not be rewarded for just opening a dialogue.
“We’re not using a carrot to convince them to talk,” Mr. Tillerson said in a recent interview with “60 Minutes.” “We’re using large sticks.”
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The meeting was to occur after Mr. Pence had warned that North Korea was about to face the “toughest and most aggressive” set of United States sanctions yet, though he did not detail what those would be.
Highlighting the difficulty of enforcing those sanctions, Japan on Wednesday said its military had spotted a ship-to-ship transfer of goods at sea that it “strongly suspects” violates existing United Nations sanctions on North Korea.
The transfer happened on Friday, when a Japanese surveillance plane and an escort ship spotted a North Korean-flagged tanker alongside another, smaller ship in the waters between China and Japan, Japan’s foreign ministry said. The smaller ship was of unknown nationality, though photos showed it had Chinese characters that suggested it was an oil ship from China’s Fujian Province. There appeared to be hoses connecting the two vessels.
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