Special counsel Robert Mueller’ plea agreement with Paul Manafort “took unusual and possibly unprecedented steps to undercut President Trump’s ability to pardon his former campaign chairman,” Politico reports.

“The plea deal Mueller struck with the former Trump campaign chairman contains several provisions that appear intended to discourage the former Trump aide both from seeking a pardon and to rein in the impact of any pardon Trump might grant.”

“Legal experts with sweeping views of executive power and attorneys who advocate for broad use of clemency criticized what they call an effort by Mueller’s team to tie the president’s hands.”

“He wanted to make sure that his family was able to remain safe and live a good life.”

— Kevin Downing, attorney for Paul Manafort, in a brief statement on why his client took a plea deal from special counsel Robert Mueller.

USA Today: “As part of his plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller, Manafort is going to have to surrender a lot of valuable real estate to the government, including a condo in Trump Tower.”

“In addition to the high-rise condo owned by his former boss, Manafort will have to forfeit a brownstone in Brooklyn, New York, another condo in lower Manhattan, a house in the Hamptons, a house in Arlington, Virginia, three bank accounts and a life insurance policy.”

Washington Post: “The combined value of those properties, according to estimates at Zillow.com and assigning the 2006 sale price to his Trump Tower property, is about $22.2 million. If those were sold at the values identified above and the money returned to the government, that alone nearly covers our estimated costs of the investigation to date.”

Paul Manafort plea agreement with federal prosecutors says he must cooperate fully in “any and all matters as to what the Government deems the cooperation relevant.”

Manafort “has already begun cooperating with Mueller,” Politico reports.

Josh Marshall: “As someone who fell for the ruse, it is almost beyond belief that they could pull this off: have reporting come out about plea negotiations but plausible claim that, and make people think that, it was a plea without any agreement to cooperate. And yet, there you have it. Pretty much they pulled it off.”

Franklin Foer: What Paul Manafort knows.

Paul Waldman: Paul Manafort has flipped. So what happens now?

Paul Manafort has agreed to plead guilty to federal crimes at a hearing Friday morning, the Washington Post reports.

“The planned plea, if accepted by a judge, would short-circuit his second trial scheduled to begin later this month in the District on charges of money laundering and lobbying violations.”

“The details of Manafort’s plea were not immediately clear, including whether he would be providing any information to special counsel Robert Mueller as part of any deal.”

Meanwhile, the special counsel’s office has filed a superseding criminal information in the case against Manafort.

Paul Manafort has tentatively agreed to a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller that will head off his upcoming trial, ABC News reports.

“The deal is expected to be announced in court Friday, but it remains unclear whether Manafort has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors or is simply conceding to a guilty plea, which would allow him to avoid the stress and expense of trial.”

Sources tell ABC News that special counsel Robert Mueller’s office is seeking cooperation from Paul Manafort for information related to President Trump and the 2016 campaign in exchange for a possible plea deal.

However, Manafort is resisting and his team is pushing prosecutors for a plea agreement that does not include cooperation, at least as related to the president.

“Days before in-person jury selection is set to begin in his second trial, President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort is in talks with the special counsel’s office about a possible plea deal,” the Washington Post reports.

“The discussions indicate a possible shift in strategy for Manafort, who earlier this year chose to go to trial in Virginia, only to be convicted last month in Alexandria federal court on eight counts of bank and tax fraud.”

“The specifics of Manafort’s current negotiations with prosecutors were unclear, including whether he would provide any information about the president. However, Manafort’s willingness to engage in talks could be a setback for Trump.”

“Paul Manafort’s lawyers have talked to U.S. prosecutors about a possible guilty plea to avert a second criminal trial set to begin in Washington this month,” Bloomberg reports.

“The negotiations over a potential plea deal have centered on which charges Manafort might admit and the length of the sentence to be recommended by prosecutors working for Special Counsel Robert Mueller… Manafort already faces as long as 10 years in prison under advisory sentencing guidelines in the Virginia case.”

A federal judge ruled that Paul Manafort’s second trial will remain in Washington, D.C., the AP reports.

“Manafort’s attorneys had argued that the trial should be moved to Roanoke, Virginia, because the intensity of publicity in Washington made it impossible for him to receive a fair trial. But Judge Amy Berman Jackson said the request appeared to relate more to concerns about the political affiliation of Washington residents, rather than a unique amount of pretrial publicity.”

Paul Manafort’s daughter, Jessica, has filed paperwork to officially change her last name to her mother’s maiden name, Bond, the New York Post reports.

She said that she’s seeking the name change “to separate myself and my work from a public perception that has nothing to do with the person that I am.”