Resources: Indictments, plea deals made public

    The background: On Dec. 29, 2016, President Barack Obama announced sanctions against Russian intelligence entities allegedly responsible for hacks into the Democratic National Committee.
    Flynn is charged with making false statements when questioned about his reaction to those sanctions. According to the records, he denied that after the sanctions were announced, he asked a Russian ambassador to refrain from escalating the situation in response. Flynn was also accused of falsely telling officials he did not ask the ambassador to "delay the vote on or defeat a pending United Nations Security Council resolution; and that the Russian ambassador subsequently never described to Flynn Russia's response to his request," according to the charge filed in the U.S. District Court.
    The legal documents can be read on the documentcloud.org website. Here are links to the documents, along with a brief summary:

October 2017: Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was indicted in October on charges of conspiracy against the United States, laundering money, failing to file reports of foreign bank accounts and failing to register as a foreign agent.  
    The charges leveled against Manafort and his associate, both of whom have pleaded not guilty, are unrelated to Manafort's work as campaign chairman. They were issued, however, as a result of the investigation by Robert Mueller, the special counsel probing alleged attempts by Russia to influence the American election.

The Manafort indictment charges:

•  Manafort and his associate, Richard W. Gates III, acted as "unregistered agents of the government of Ukraine," and in the process, generated tens of millions of dollars in income. From 2006 to 2016, Manafort and Gates "laundered the money through scores of United States and foreign corporations, partnerships and bank accounts."  
•  When asked by the U.S. Department of Justice about their activities, they "responded with a series of false or misleading statements."
•  Manafort, the indictment charges, "used his hidden overseas wealth to enjoy a lavish lifestyle in the United States without paying taxes on that income."
•  In total, "more than $75,000,000 flowed through the offshore accounts. Manafort laundered more than $18,000,000, which was used by him to buy property, goods and services in the United States, income that he concealed from the United States Treasury, the Department of Justice and others."

Charges against a third member of the campaign: The U.S. Justice Department unsealed charges against a third defendant, George Papadopoulos, accused of making false statements to the FBI. He pleaded guilty Oct. 5. 
     Papadopoulos, once a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, had contact with an individual, who "told him about the Russians possessing 'dirt' on then candidate Hillary Clinton in the form of thousands of e-mails."  Papadopoulos "stated multiple times that he learned that information prior to joining the campaign." Actually, he learned it after he joined the campaign, the document charges. Also, Papadopoulos described his contact as "a nothing," and "just a guy talking up connections or something." But Papadopoulos knew that the contact had "substantial connections to Russian government officials."

Where to see the paperwork:

• U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary sends Manafort a request to preserve documents, dated July 19, 2017, posted on documentcloud.org (from BuzzFeed).
• U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, order to seal the indictment on documentcloud.org, (posted by BuzzFeed).
• The indictment of Manafort and Gates, on the documentcloud.org website (posted by USA Today).
• U.S. District Court order to unseal the indictment on the documentcloud.org website (posted by BuzzFeed).
• Manafort arrest warrant on the documentcloud.org website (posted by BuzzFeed).
• The memorandum supporting the conditions of release of Manafort and Gates on the documentcloud.org website (posted by The National Journal).
• Manafort memo filed in U.S. District Court regarding conditions of release on documentcloud.org (posted by USA Today).
• The charge against Papadopoulos on the website of the U.S. Justice Department.
• The Papadopoulos plea agreement on the website of the U.S. Justice Department.
• The statement Papadopoulos makes in which he accepts guilt for lying to the FBI on the documentcloud.org website (posted by USA Today).  
• Carter Page's testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, on The New York Times website, Nov. 2, 2017.
• U.S. vs. Michael Flynn, filed in the U.S. District Court, Nov. 30, 2017 (posted on the documentcloud website by NBC).
• The White House: Statement by President Obama on actions in response to Russian malicious cyber activity and harassment.
• U.S. Department of Justice: Michael Flynn Plea Agreement (posted on documentcloud.org by NPR).

      Related:

      What is the emoluments clause?

      What was the Teapot Dome Scandal?

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