Cooperating Witnesses

Cooperating Witnesses are people that help investigators by providing information against others that committed crimes, often times crimes that the witness either took part in directly or personally witnessed.  Usually, they’re cooperating with the prosecution and investigators for consideration of leniency in their own sentencing.

Just as with most other criminal cases, in the Mueller Investigation, a cooperating witness has to be able to offer something more than themselves.  They have to be able to provide evidence on someone or something more important than them.  For example, if a witness robbed a bank, and they can only provide evidence against someone committing petty vandalism, the prosecutor won’t work with them.  However, if the bank robber can implicate the rest of their crew, or provide evidence against the crime boss that ordered and planned the robbery, the prosecution might be willing to make a deal for testimony.  This deal could include a reduced prison sentence, immunity against certain crimes, or other considerations like serving a sentence in a specific prison or getting extra privileges.

This article, which will be updated over time, lists the confirmed, rumored, and disproven cooperating witnesses, and will be updated over time.

 

CONFIRMED

George Papadopoulos:  Member of the Foreign Policy team, he was the first person known to flip.  George was arrested in July 2017, and pled guilty to lying to the FBI in October 2017.  His deal was first reported on Daily Check-In 10/30/2017.  George reported to jail on Daily Check-In 11/26/2018.

George Nader: Assistant and confidant of Erik Prince, with deep ties to the United Arab Emirates.  A convicted pedophile, his deal was reported on Daily Check-In 03/06/2018.

Richard Pinedo: Sold bank account information on the Dark Web to Russians working for the Internet Research Agency so they could spoof PayPal.  First reported on Daily Check-in 02/16/2018.

Rick Gates:  Former business partner of Paul Manafort, was Deputy Campaign Manager of the Trump Presidential Campaign from June 2016 until the end.  Following the campaign, he was the Chief of Staff to the Chairman of the Trump Inaugural Committee chairman Tom Barrack.  His deal took a long time to work out, but was finalized on Daily Check-In 02/23/2018.

Mike Flynn: Former National Security Advisor to President Trump.  Pled guilty to lying to the FBI in exchange for his cooperation in multiple legal affairs on Daily Check-In 12/01/2017.

Jeffrey Yohai:  Paul Manafort’s former son-in-law, his deal became public on May 18, 2018.

Evgeny Freidman: Michael Cohen’s former business partner in Taxi Medallion businesses.  He pleaded guilty to tax evasion and agreed to testify against Donald Trump’s personal attorney on   May 22, 2018.

Sam Patten: A lobbyist that worked with Paul Manafort, he also worked for the Opposition Bloc, arranged a deal to funnel at least $50,000 of Ukrainian money into the Trump Inauguration Committee, and worked at SCL/Cambridge Analytica on messaging for Vladimir Putin.  His deal became public on Daily Check-In 08/31/2018.

Paul Manafort: Former Campaign Chairman for the Trump Presidential Campaign.  He agreed to a plea deal involving a cooperation agreement on Daily Check-In 09/14/2018.  The Special Counselor’s Office broke that deal on Daily Check-In 11/26/2018 after they announced that Manafort had lied repeatedly during the cooperation period.

Michael Cohen: Former attorney for Donald Trump.  He’s rumored to be cooperating with the Mueller Investigation, but as of this time does not have a formal agreement.  UPDATE: Formal update confirmed on Daily Check-In 11/29/2018

 

RUMORED

Steve Bannon:  Former White House Chief Strategist.  He’s rumored to have spilled the beans on Trump, Cambridge Analytica, and the Mercers to avoid espionage and treason charges.

 

DISPROVEN

Alex Van Der Zwan:  Rick Gates’ former attorney.  Convicted of lying to the FBI, serving a 30 day sentence in prison.

 

UPDATE HISTORY

April 15th: Began article and listed names.

May 18th:  Added Jeffrey Yohai.  Fleshed out details of each person.

May 22nd:  Added Evgeny Freidman.

September 3rd:  Added Sam Patten.

September 16th: Added Paul Manafort.

November 27th: Paul Manafort is no longer a cooperating witness.

December 6th: Michael Cohen is officially cooperating with Robert Mueller’s team as of November 29th, 2018.