*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.
Congress has passed a bill to fund the government for another week, giving lawmakers time to reach an agreement on a new coronavirus relief bill.
The final vote was 84-13, mirroring a similarly overwhelming margin in the House that, if maintained in both chambers, would be enough to override a potential veto.
Gun and ammunition sales have surged this year in the U.S. Michelle Castillo investigates.
Several states along with the Federal Trade Commission have launched lawsuits against Facebook for snuffing out competition through acquisitions. Cheddar's Michelle Castillo reports.
Stockton, California Mayor Michael Tubbs, started a pilot UBI program in 2019 that just got a big boost in funding from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
The number of people applying for unemployment aid jumped last week to 853,000, the most since September, evidence that some companies are cutting more jobs as new virus cases spiral higher.
Lawmakers are embracing a one-week extension of government funding to buy time for more COVID-19 relief talks.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong joined Cheddar to discuss the multi-state antitrust lawsuit against the social media giant Facebook even as the FTC filed its own legal action.
Rep. Jim Clyburn, the Democratic congressman from South Carolina, stood up for President-elect Joe Biden's Cabinet selections so far.
Deaths from the coronavirus in the U.S. have soared to more than 2,200 a day on average.
