#guilty plea

There are reports that Trump's last chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has been granted immunity by Special Counsel Jack Smith to give evidence against his former boss.

Immunity is the biggest favor a prosecutor can grant to a witness who would otherwise be in legal peril. And it's not something that is dispensed lightly. Jack Smith must know that Meadows's testimony would be deeply implicating for Trump.

This is terrible news for Trump. Meadows was around Trump during his final months in office when Trump and his cronies were trying to illegally derail the election of Joe Biden.

The granting of immunity in a federal case has not been the only bad legal news for Trump in recent days.

Jenna Ellis became the third former Trump lawyer to plead guilty in the Georgia election tampering case.

Jenna Ellis becomes latest Trump lawyer to plead guilty over efforts to overturn Georgia’s election

And then there is the New York civil fraud trial of Trump. It was not a good time for The Donald in court.

Trump glowers as Cohen dishes

#BREAKING - Paul Manafort Pleads Guilty And Agrees To Cooperate With Mueller Investigation

Sam Patten and Paul Manafort were associates who worked for the same team. #TrumpRussia  #Crimea  #MagnitskyAct

Sam Patten funneled money to Trump’s Inauguration Committee to set up meetings between Putin’s Ukrainian Oligarch, Serhiy Lyovochkin and Republican Congress members. #NationalSecurity

Diana Denman, a Republican delegate said Trump directed changes to GOP Platform on Ukraine support. Is there a connection between Patten and Trump changing the platform to be less pro-Ukraine and more pro-Russian? #YouBetcha  #MuellerIsComingForYou

As part of a plea agreement under which he pledged to cooperate with federal prosecutors, the lobbyist, Sam Patten, pleaded guilty to failing to register as a foreign agent for a Russia-aligned Ukrainian political party, and to helping the Ukrainian oligarch who had funded that party illegally purchase four tickets to Mr. Trump’s inauguration.

How Foreign Agents work

They contend that Mr. Patten arranged for the purchase of four tickets for $50,000 by funneling the oligarch’s money through an American “straw” purchaser in violation of rules barring the inaugural committee from accepting money from foreign nationals.

Prosecutors say that Mr. Patten arranged meetings with congressional officials for the oligarch, and one former congressional aide recalled being introduced to Mr. Lyovochkin by Mr. Patten.

Prosecutors also said that Mr. Patten helped the oligarch draft and place an op-ed in an American media outlet in February 2017 “to address concerns regarding Ukraine’s ability to work effectively with the new United States administration.”

Patten, Manfort and Russians used banks in Cyprus and shell companies

Summary

Patten, a respected Republican operative and consultant whose family was once part of Washington’s social elite

Patten faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. 

Prosecutors did not identify the American who purchased the tickets, the oligarch or Mr. Patten’s Russian business partner by name. But people familiar with the work said the Russian is Konstantin V. Kilimnik formed a company called Begemot Ventures International with Mr. Patten in February 2015, according to corporate records filed in Washington. 

Kilimnik is a Russian national who had worked closely with Mr. Manafort in Ukraine and is suspected by the United States of having ties to Russian intelligence.

The description of the oligarch matches that of Serhiy Lyovochkin, who serves in the Ukrainian parliament and is an official in the Opposition Bloc, according to interviews and documents. 

Mr. Gates, Mr. Trump’s former deputy campaign chairman and Mr. Manafort’s former right-hand man, testified that Mr. Lyovochkin was one of a clutch of oligarchs who paid Mr. Manafort more than $60 million to promote pro-Russian political forces in Ukraine. 

Read

Revealed: Members of the Trump $1 million inaugural club, The Hill  

250 donors shelled out $100k or more for Trump’s inauguration, providing 91% of funds, Open Secrets 

What (Lots of) Money Can Buy at Trump’s Inauguration, NYTimes

Inaugurations Are Ethically Problematic. Trump Is Just Taking It Much Further., Huffington Post

Putin’s Russian Oligarchs were at 45′s inauguration,  Washington Post

AND two of the Russians that Don Jr, Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort met at Trump Towers in June 2016 were there too.

Natalia Veselnitskaya and Rinat Akhmetshin (former military intelligence officer turned lobbyist) went to Dana Rohrabacher’s (R-Calif.) inaugural party in Washington. 

KUALA LUMPUR — The Shah Alam High Court today sentenced Muhammad Danial Iman Mohd Sharif to 16 years’ imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to causing the death of his two-month-old daughter four years ago. Judge Datuk Aslam Zainuddin ordered the term to run from the date of the accused’s arrest in July 2022. Man Sentenced 16 Years In grounds of judgment released earlier this month, the judge…

Three members of the Pagan’s Motorcycle Club pleaded guilty in federal court this week to charges connected to multiple armed assaults on rival motorcycle gang members. Christopher W. McGowen, also known as “Mac,” 41, of Platte City, Missouri, entered his guilty plea on May 13, 2025, before U.S. District Judge Greg Kays. McGowen pleaded guilty to two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon in…