Prosecutors argue that former Obama White House Counsel Greg Craig chose to 'lie and conceal' his Ukraine work
Prosecutors at the trial of former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig attempted an act of courtroom jujitsu Thursday as they argued that the venerated member of the Washington legal establishment implemented a scheme to deceive the Justice Department about his dealings with Ukraine.
Gaston said Craig lied for two reasons. He didn’t want to register under the Foreign Agent Registration Act because it could jeopardize his chance at a top post in a future administration, she said. She also argued Craig was deeply reluctant to disclose details about the Ukraine work, including that while Ukraine appeared to be getting the elite law firm’s work “practically for free,” a Ukrainian oligarch was secretly paying more than $4 million for the report.
“He’s a man who’s lived his entire life with honor and integrity,” defense attorney William Taylor said, tracing Craig’s legal career from registering African Americans to vote in the South during the civil rights movement to serving Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama in the White House.Taylor conceded that Craig didn’t want to register under FARA, in part because of future aspirations in government, but the defense attorney said Craig never thought he needed to do so.
“Mr. Craig will be the first to tell you … he could be rightly criticized for signing it,” Taylor declared. Craig is not charged in the case with failing to register, but both sides appear to agree that the issue has relevance to the trial because the government argues that is what created Craig’s motive to deceive.
Taylor said the handoff was less nefarious and consequential than it sounded. He said Craig and Sanger live near each other and met when both their sons played Little League on the same team. Sanger wasn’t even home at the time of the much-touted delivery, so Craig stuck the report inside the storm door, the defense said.
Craig’s team has advanced the lawyerly argument that Craig’s statement was literally true because Sanger expressed interest in seeing the report. However, evidence in the case indicates he only did so after Craig reached out to him in October and again in December. After the jury left the room, Jackson complained that Taylor seemed to be trying to minimize the severity of the felony false-statement-scheme charge and she said that was “a little inconsistent” with the defense’s promises that it would not offer any arguments that amount to jury nullification.
The prosecution of Craig grew out of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia. Mueller’s team took an interest in the Ukraine project as it scrutinized the history of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, both of whom figured in Craig’s project. Craig is the most prominent Democrat to be hit with a criminal charge in the Mueller probe or its various progeny.
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