There's a huge question looming over Paul Manafort's unraveling plea deal with Mueller

Reuters

• Justice Department veterans are flummoxed that lawyers representing Paul Manafort, the former chairman of President Donald Trump's campaign, are still in touch with Trump's lawyers following Manafort's guilty plea.
• "It is absolutely not normal for a convicted felon and now cooperator to continue to loop in a potential target's attorneys on the relationship with the prosecutor," said one former DOJ career attorney.
• There is no official guideline that bars lawyers for two sides from communicating with one another, but such communications could severely undermine or even tank a cooperation deal entirely.
• The special counsel Robert Mueller revealed on Monday that Manafort breached his plea deal by lying to investigators. Manafort's team maintains that he did not lie, and a source with direct knowledge of the matter told INSIDER his plea deal with Mueller remains intact.
• By staying in touch with Trump's team while cooperating, experts say Manafort could be trying to keep all his options open, including angling for a potential presidential pardon.

As Paul Manafort's name winds up back in the headlines this week, DOJ veterans say there's one big question they want an answer to: why is Manafort's legal team still communicating with lawyers representing President Donald Trump in the Russia investigation?

Manafort, the former chairman of the Trump campaign, pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy and obstruction and has since been cooperating with the special counsel. But on Monday, Mueller's office said in a new court filing that Manafort had breached his plea deal by lying to investigators.

Prosecutors said "the nature of the defendant's crimes and lies, including those after signing the plea agreement," freed them of any obligation from the plea agreement.

Trump's lead defense lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, also indicated that the agreement may be unraveling when he told CNN on Tuesday that Manafort's lawyers told him they're running into trouble with Mueller.

"We discuss things that are appropriate," Giuliani said. "They're [Manafort's team] in control of it. I have no idea what else they're questioning them about. I don't want to know."

Read more: Paul Manafort's plea agreement with the feds is in jeopardy as Mueller accuses him of lying to investigators

Giuliani told INSIDER earlier this year that Manafort was in a joint defense agreement with Trump. But when a defendant flips and agrees to a plea deal, it requires that they pull out of any joint defense agreements they're party to.

"It is absolutely not normal for a convicted felon and now cooperator to continue to loop in a potential target's attorneys on the relationship with the prosecutor," said Jeffrey Cramer, a longtime former federal prosecutor who spent 12 years at the DOJ.

"I doubt many prosecutors have had defendants who burn up the phone lines talking to an opposing counsel who may end up cross-examining him some day," he added.

Andrew Burton/Getty Images

'A pardon is still the holy grail for Manafort'

Things between Manafort and Mueller have been shaky for a while. Earlier this month, ABC News reported that talks between the two sides had broken down.

Since pleading guilty, Manafort had met with prosecutors nearly a dozen times, and though members of Mueller's team have been asking him about a wide range of topics, they're "not getting what they want," a source with knowledge of the discussions told ABC News.

The dispute between the two sides reportedly stemmed from suspicions that Manafort was not being entirely forthcoming about all the information he may know that's relevant to the Russia investigation.

A source with direct knowledge of the matter told INSIDER on Tuesday that Manafort's plea deal with Mueller is still intact.

There is no technical or legal guideline that bars an attorney for one target of a criminal investigation from communicating with lawyers representing another target, whether or not a joint defense agreement exists.

But such communications could severely undermine or even tank a cooperation agreement entirely if lawyers for one side revealed too much information to lawyers on the other side.

REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

"If as a prosecutor I was dealing with Manafort's attorneys, I'd have made clear from day one that any communication with Trump's attorneys, or other attorneys for other subjects, would jeopardize the cooperation," Elie Honig, a former prosecutor from the Southern District of New York who specialized in organized-crime cases, told INSIDER.

Manafort's guilty plea came after a lengthy court battle during which his lawyers put up an aggressive defense against Mueller by challenging his authority and arguing that he had overstepped the scope of his mandate when he charged Manafort with crimes unrelated to Russian collusion.

Legal experts said at the time that Manafort's refusal to flip could have been part of an effort to angle for a presidential pardon. His lawyers' unusual decision to stay in touch with Trump's team even after pleading guilty may point to the same strategy.

Read more: Trump rips Mueller for 'ruining lives' of people 'refusing to lie' after Jerome Corsi says he will reject Mueller's plea offer

"It does seem that Manafort is trying to keep all his options open for as long as possible," Cramer said. "He is a career fraudster so he is consistent if nothing else. He was easily convicted and then decided to cooperate rather than go through another trial and more prison time being added to his sentence."

"But a pardon is still the holy grail for Manafort," he added.

Trump, for his part, appears to grow more heated with Mueller and the Russia probe everyday.

"The Phony Witch Hunt continues, but Mueller and his gang of Angry Dems are only looking at one side, not the other," Trump tweeted on Tuesday morning, shortly after Mueller revealed that Manafort had breached his plea deal. "Wait until it comes out how horribly & viciously they are treating people, ruining lives for them refusing to lie."

"Mueller is a conflicted prosecutor gone rogue," Trump added. "The Fake News Media builds Bob Mueller up as a Saint, when in actuality he is the exact opposite. He is doing TREMENDOUS damage to our Criminal Justice System, where is is only looking at one side and not the other."

The president has alternated between defending and distancing himself from Manafort. Giuliani told INSIDER earlier this year that Trump would not consider whether or not to pardon his former campaign chairman until after the Russia probe had concluded.

But even if Trump pardons Manafort, it doesn't mean he would be out of the woods.

"There are several state prosecutors out there who could bring a strong case based upon already existing evidence [against Manafort]," Cramer said. "And a state conviction of Manafort is beyond the president's pardon powers."