A total of 34 people and three companies have either been indicted or pleaded guilty to criminal charges in Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
On Sunday, the Justice Department said that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation did not find evidence President Donald Trump’s campaign “conspired or coordinated” with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election, but the report “does not exonerate” the president on obstruction.
Roger Stone – informal Trump adviser
Longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone was indicted in January 2019 on seven federal charges, including obstruction of proceedings.
He is accused of lying to the House Intelligence Committee about his contacts with WikiLeaks during the campaign, and tampering with a witness who could have debunked his story.
Stone is expected to stand trial in November.
Paul Manafort – former campaign chair
Manafort joined Trump’s campaign as an adviser on March 28, 2016. He, along with Donald Trump Jr. and a few others, met with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer who was said to have damaging information about Clinton.
He resigned on Aug. 19, 2016, after reports of his business dealings in Ukraine become public.
On Oct. 30, 2017, Manafort and his business partner Rick Gates were arrested and indicted on 12 counts including money laundering and conspiracy. Manafort pleaded not guilty.
He was later hit with another round of charges, unrelated to the Trump campaign.
He was found guilty of financial crimes and faces 10 years in prison. Then he agreed to a plea deal before a second trial.
But in November, the FBI alleged he lied to them, which they say violated the plea agreement.
He’s been sentenced to 7.5 years in prison. and ordered to pay just over $24 million in restitution.
Michael Flynn – former national security adviser
Flynn was appointed the job of national security adviser in November 2016, once Trump had already been elected.
After being offered the job, he had a meeting with Russians, including the Russian ambassador to the U.S. before Trump took office. They reportedly discussed sanctions which then-president Barrack Obama imposed on Russia.
In January 2017, vice-president Mike Pence told media that Flynn didn’t discuss the sanctions with the ambassador. In an interview with the FBI in February, Flynn also says he did not discuss sanctions.
He quit not long after, for reportedly misleading Pence and others about the meeting.
He pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in December 2017. Since then, he participated in 19 interviews with the office of the special counsel, according to a sentencing report. The report recommended no jail time for Flynn.
Flynn was set to be sentenced in December but that’s been delayed.
Rick Gates – former campaign adviser, business associate of Paul Manafort
Gates was charged along with Manafort with financial crimes. After being interviewed by Mueller’s team in February 2018, he pleaded guilty to financial fraud and lying to investigators.
He pleaded guilty to two felonies and agreed to co-operate with investigators.
WATCH: “Complete exoneration, no collusion” – Trump hails victory after Mueller report summary released
As of March 15, he was believed to still be co-operating with prosecutors regarding several ongoing investigations, The New York Times reported.
George Papadopoulos- former campaign policy adviser
Papadopoulos, with an Australian diplomat in London, met in the spring of 2016, where he described his contact with a Russian middleman.
The meeting led to the FBI’s investigation into Russian election interference and Papadopoulos later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 14 days in jail for lying to FBI agents.
Michael Cohen – Former Trump lawyer
Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about his involvement in the building of a Trump Tower in Moscow, a real-estate deal that was active during the 2016 presidential campaign.
He also admitted that he had briefed members of the Trump family about those discussions, and had minimized Trump’s role in pursuing a deal to go along with the campaign’s messaging.
WATCH: Cohen – President Trump is a racist, liar, cheat, conman
Cohen agreed to co-operate with the special counsel’s office, and Trump has accused him of lying to win a shorter sentence.
He has been sentenced to three years in prison.
Cohen subsequently testified before Congress that Trump had implicitly instructed him to lie about a prospective Trump tower project in Moscow.
26 Russian nationals
As part of the investigation, 13 Russian unnamed nationals have been charged with conspiracy to launder money and identity theft.
In addition, 12 Russian GRU Intelligence officers are charged with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. as well as identity theft.
One citizen (named Konstantin Kilimnik) was charged with obstruction of justice.
The New York Times reported that these cases are likely to languish in court, as the defences can’t be extradited to the U.S.
3 Russian companies
In addition, three companies have been charged. The charges focused on Russia’s Internet Research Agency, which was accused of being a troll factory. Concord Management and Consulting and its subsidiary Concord Catering were accused of financing the IRA.
Alex van der Zwaan – Dutch lawyer
Van der Zwaan pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators who were interviewing him in their investigation of Rick Gates.
He was the first person sentenced in the investigation and served 30 days in prison.
Richard Pinedo – California man
Pinedo, a California computer specialist, was caught by special counsel prosecutors selling fake online identities to Russians that allowed them to elude safeguards to gain access to online financial networks like PayPal.
He was sentenced to six months in prison and six months of home detention.
-With a file from the Associated Press
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