Manafort plea live updates: Former Trump aide appears in court and pleads guilty after cooperation deal to avoid trial in Mueller Russia investigation
The dropping of charges related to the case in Washington DC and a previous case in Virginia will rely on how much Manafort works with Robert Mueller's team
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Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort will cooperate with prosecutors from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation after pleading guilty to two charges to avoid a second criminal trial.
The charges include conspiracy against the United States and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
As part of a plea deal, the rest of the charges in the Washington DC case, as well as the deadlocked charges from a previous case in Virginia will be dropped at the time of sentencing ot upon "completion of cooperation" prosecutors have said.
The allegations do not involve his work with the Trump campaign. It is not clear whether any agreement with prosecutors would require him to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Manafort was facing a second trial set to begin on Monday on charges related to Ukrainian political consulting work, including failing to register as a foreign agent.
It's unclear how the possible deal might affect Manafort's pursuit of a pardon from President Donald Trump. The president has signalled that he's sympathetic to Manafort's cause, and in comments to Politico, his attorney-spokesman Rudy Giuliani said a plea without a cooperation agreement wouldn't foreclose the possibility of a pardon.
Manafort is already facing eight to 10 years in prison after being convicted in Virginia on eight counts of bank and tax fraud and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts relating to $16m (£12m) laundered through shell companies overseas.
As the former campaign chairman is expected in court later today, you can follow live updates below.
Please allow a moment for the liveblog to load.
Now Roger Stone has issued a statement about the Manafort deal:
A number of people are flagging an old clip of Newt Gingrich talking about Donald Trump's presidential campaign in 2016.
Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has responded to Paul Manafort's plea deal.
He initially said in a statement "the president did notthing and Paul Manafort will tell the truth" but revised it to say, simply, "the president did nothing wrong".
Mr Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing when it comes to special prosecutor Robert Mueller and the FBI's investigation - what he has often called a "witch hunt" - into alleged collusion between Russian officials and his 2016 campaign team.
Mr Manafort's indictments were a result of the investigation, but the charges were not directly related to the campaign. Legal experts have said Mr Mueller was hoping the financial fraud charges would push the former campaign chairman into cooperating with the rest of the probe.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has said the plea deal "had absolutely nothing to do with the President or his victorious 2016 presidential campaign. It is totally unrelated".
The charges brought against Mr Manafort only came about because of the FBI investigation into the 2016 US election campaign team and the alleged collusion.
Mr Trump himself has not issued a statement or tweeted about the matter as yet.
The ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee Mark Warner also issued a statement in response to Mr Manafort's guilty plea and cooperation agreement: "Today’s admission of criminal guilt by Paul Manafort clearly demonstrates that the President’s 2016 campaign manager conducted illegal activity in conspiracy with Russian-backed entities and was beholden to Kremlin-linked officials."
Mr Warner added: The guilty plea also underscores the seriousness of this investigation. The Special Counsel must be permitted to follow the facts wherever and however high they might lead."
He said "no one is above the law" in the US, perhaps pointing towards the president as well, who Mr Mueller has been debating whether to subpoena.
"Any attempt by the President to pardon Mr Manafort or otherwise interfere in this investigation would be a gross abuse of power and require immediate action by Congress," Mr Warner said.
The White House has not said whether the president is considering a pardon, which is within his rights for Mr Manafort's federal crimes.
You can read more detail about the plea deal here:
Ma Manafort smiled broadly as he entered the courtroom Friday but gave terse and barely audible answers during questioning from the judge.
"He wanted to make sure that his family was able to remain safe and live a good life. He's accepted responsibility. This is for conduct that dates back many years and everybody should remember that," said attorney Kevin Downing.
Members of Congress are starting to respond to the Manafort plea, including California Democrat Adam Schiff:
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