*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.
The U.S. government is imposing new restrictions on Chinese tech giant Huawei by limiting its ability to use American technology to build its semiconductors.
The stock market ended a choppy day higher as a turnaround by banks and energy companies helped end a two-day losing streak.
New Jersey's governor issued long-awaited guidance Thursday to Jersey Shore towns on how to safely reopen their beaches as the summer season beckons amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Dr. Rick Bright is telling Congress that America faces the “darkest winter in modern history” unless its leaders act decisively to prevent a rebound of the coronavirus.
Sen. Richard Burr stepped aside as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee after the FBI served a search warrant for his phone as part of an ongoing insider-trading investigation tied to the coronavirus pandemic.
Nearly 3 million laid-off workers applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week as the viral outbreak led more companies to slash jobs even though most states have begun to let some businesses reopen under certain restrictions.
Stocks are falling in early trading on Wall Street Wednesday, tacking on more losses to their end-of-day slide from a day before.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has unveiled a more than $3 trillion new coronavirus aid package. It would provide nearly $1 trillion for states, cities and tribal governments to avert layoffs and another $200 billion in “hazard pay” for essential workers.
Republican Senators Marsha Blackburn and Martha McSally have introduced legislation that would allow U.S. citizens to file lawsuits against the Chinese Communist Party over the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wall Street fell to its biggest loss since the start of the month on worries about the downside of reopening the economy too soon.
