Washington Post: “The four words of unredacted text suggest that in February 2018 — four months after Manafort was first charged with crimes related to his work as a political consultant in Ukraine — he still appears to have been working on a peace initiative for Ukraine, a topic of intense interest to Russia.”

“And it suggests he was doing so in concert with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian employee of his consulting firm who is alleged to have ties to Russian intelligence… Nearly half of the filing is devoted to Manafort’s interactions with Kilimnik, including a section related to their communications in 2018, a sign of Mueller’s ongoing interest in what Manafort discussed with his younger Russian employee.”

“Defense attorneys for Paul Manafort indicated Tuesday they might not contest special counsel Robert Mueller’s allegations that President Trump’s one-time campaign chairman lied to federal prosecutors,” The Hill reports.

Politico: “Manafort’s lawyers last week argued in a court filing that their client had done his best to provide useful and truthful answers to prosecutors’ questions over a dozen debriefing sessions held after the former lobbyist pleaded guilty in mid-September. But Manafort’s lead attorney said his team is now reviewing materials that the special counsel has shared spelling out its evidence, adding that his team would spend time talking with Manafort before determining its next move.”

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s office is considering retrying former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on a slew of federal charges that resulted in a hung jury over the summer, Politico reports.

A federal judge set a March 5 sentencing date for Manafort.

“Paul Manafort’s alleged misstatements to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators include comments about his personal business dealings and about his contacts with a former associate in Ukraine,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Those statements—among those described by Mr. Mueller as ‘lies’ and Mr. Manafort as ‘truthful information’ in a court filing Monday—are what led the special counsel this week to take the unusual step of ending the former Trump campaign chairman’s plea agreement 2½ months after it was reached.”

“The content of those statements don’t appear to be central to the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election that Mr. Mueller is investigating.”

“The judge in Paul Manafort’s Virginia trial denied the former Trump campaign chairman’s request to wear a suit for his next hearing on Oct. 19, and ‘all subsequent hearings,’ arguing that Manafort should be treated no differently than other defendants who are in custody,” TPM reports.

Wrote Judge T.S. Ellis: “Defendants who are in custody post-conviction are, as a matter of course, not entitled to appear for sentencing or any other hearing in street clothing. This defendant should be treated no differently from other defendants who are in custody post-conviction.”

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.