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WASHINGTON — The man whose boozy conversation with a diplomat may have launched the federal government's investigation into Russian election interference was sentenced Friday to 14 days in jail and one year of supervised release for lying to the FBI. The defendant, George Papadopoulos, a one-time up-and-comer from Chicago who served as a foreign policy adviser on Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, pleaded guilty last October to making a false statement when the FBI interviewed him in January 2017. "I made a terrible mistake," Papadopoulos, 31, said in a statement to Judge Randolph Moss in the Washington, D.C., courtroom. "I hope...

Craig supervised Alex van der Zwaan, who has pleaded guilty to lying about communications regarding his work for Ukrainian politicians. Former Obama White House counsel Gregory Craig has left his law firm, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, the firm told NBC News. His departure comes after he and his law firm became caught up in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Alex van der Zwaan, who had been a lawyer in Skadden's London office, pleaded guilty to lying to prosecutors and the FBI about communications involving work the firm had been...

The special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election revealed Tuesday night that prosecutors say they have connected former Trump deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates to a person with ties to a Russian intelligence service while Gates worked on the campaign. That Gates and the unnamed person, who had lived in Kiev and Moscow and worked for one of Paul Manafort's companies, were in touch in September and October 2016 was "pertinent to the investigation," a court filing from prosecutors said Tuesday night. The acknowledgment that Gates knew the person had Russian intelligence ties is alleged in a...

Updated | Alex van der Zwaan, a lawyer who once helped prepare a report for the Ukrainian government, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to lying to federal agents as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Documents charging van der Zwaan are dated February 16 and were filed publicly Tuesday morning. His sentencing is scheduled for April 3. Van der Zwaan, 33, is a Dutch lawyer who helped prepare a report for the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice on ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in 2012, according to court documents. He worked at the time...

Skadden partner Gregory Craig, the former White House counsel under President Barack Obama, also worked on the report, as did partners Cliff Stone and Margaret Krawiec. Associates who worked on the report included Alex Haskell, Paul Kerlin, Kara Roseen and Allon Kedem, who is now a lawyer in the solicitor general’s office. Manafort’s indictment claims he likely lobbied and paid at least in part for the report. Van der Zwaan’s case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who also oversees the case against Manafort and Gates. The charges are the latest from Mueller as his activity appears...

Special counsel Robert Mueller has filed a charge against a lawyer for lying to investigators about his interaction with former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates in September 2016. Alex Van Der Zwaan is expected to plead guilty Tuesday afternoon. The filing is further evidence of Mueller's investigation of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Gates and their work for Russian-allied clients. He is also accused of lying about the failure to turn over an email communication to the special counsel's office. He was speaking with investigators about his work with Skadden Arps in 2012 when the firm did work...