*By Carlo Versano*
President Trump's former campaign chair Paul Manafort is, as of Friday, the latest of the president's ex-associates to plead guilty to felony charges.
Manafort was convicted in federal court in August of eight financial fraud charges, though "this is the first time time Paul Manafort has ever admitted to committing a crime," Ben Dreyfuss, editorial director of Mother Jones, said.
Friday's plea deal was related to a separate set of charges for which the former political consultant was awaiting trial.
As part of the plea, Manafort will cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
That is "massive news," Dreyfuss said.
Trump praised Manafort as a "brave man" when he was found guilty of bank and tax fraud last month ー roughly the same hour when Trump's former consigliere Michael Cohen was offering to cooperate, much to the chagrin of the president.
Manafort's lawyer said Friday his client had offered "full cooperation," though as Dreyfuss noted, no details have been made public yetー and what specifically Manafort could offer prosecutors remains unknown.
"No one knows what he could say except for Trump himself," Dreyfuss said.
New York lawmakers and Gov. Cuomo have reached a deal on legalizing adult-use marijuana in the state.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill. 9th District) and Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio 5th District) joined Cheddar to discuss what Congress might do about the Big Tech companies following the latest hearing on misinformation and disinformation online.
On Thursday, March 25, Congress will hold a remote hearing with testimony from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai on the "misinformation and disinformation" that some argue continue to plague online platforms.
The law passed Thursday places new restrictions on voting by mail and greater legislative oversight of elections. Democrats and voting rights groups say the law will disproportionately disenfranchise voters of color.
President Joe Biden is leaving the door open to backing fundamental changes in Senate procedure to muscle key parts of his agenda past Republican opposition.
The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell sharply last week to 684,000, the fewest since the pandemic erupted a year ago and a sign the economy is improving.
Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) spoke to Cheddar about how his GOP colleagues should back universal background checks for gun purchasers while avoiding taking a hard stance on changes to the filibuster.
More than three months into the U.S. vaccination drive, many of the numbers paint an increasingly encouraging picture.
Cheddar previews the Thursday, March 25, Congressional hearing to feature Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
In an interview with Cheddar, New York State Senator Liz Krueger (D) said that there is now one bill on the table that is almost complete and is agreed upon by all legislative bodies in the state.
