Donald Trump betrays his concern over the Trump-Russia investigation, amid revelations about his former campaign manager Paul Manafort.

Trump awoke on Tuesday to news that Manafort faces imminent sentencing after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s announced that the political consultant had broken a plea bargain agreement.

Manafort was found guilty on eight charges of tax and bank fraud over more than $65 million that he received from clients such as a pro-Russian party in Ukraine. He pleaded guilty to a further two charges in September in an arrangement to cooperate with Mueller’s team.

But prosecutors said that Manafort had lied to them, breaching the agreement, on a variety of subjects.

Trump responded with familiar and false lines about the investigation:

He continued, “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 he is only looking at one side and not the other.”

In fact, Mueller was appointed as FBI Director in 2001 by a Republican President, George W. Bush, serving until 2013 in the Bush and Obama Administrations. Several of his team are registered Republicans and have contributed to GOP campaigns.

Manafort-Trump Cooperation v. Mueller

Trump’s response was soon overtaken by an apparent counter-attack from Trump’s camp. Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani “and two other people familiar with the conversations” said Manafort’s attorneys repeatedly briefed Trump’s legal team on Manafort’s discussions with federal investigators — even after the former campaign manager agreed to cooperate with Mueller.

The “joint defense arrangement” is common between lawyers before any of their clients are convicted, but it is highly unusual after a conviction and especially when a client has begun supposed cooperation with prosecutors.

Apparently trying to rattle the Special Counsel, Giuliani said the ongoing exchanges with Manafort’s attorney were a source of valuable insights into the Trump-Russia inquiry.

Giuliani pointed to questions about whether Trump knew in advance of a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between three Kremlin-linked envoys and Manafort, Trump’s son Donald Jr., and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The Russians promised to deliver information damaging Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton.

“[Mueller] wants Manafort to incriminate Trump,” Giuliani said Tuesday.

He indicated that the updates from Mueller’s attorneys provided reassurance that the consultant had not implicated Trump.

Report: Manafort Met WikiLeaks’ Assange Before Publication of Stolen Democrat E-Mails

But the most significant revelation may be a report on Tuesday that Manafort met WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange, as Russian operatives began hacking of Democrat computer servers — obtaining e-mails about Clinton that were published by WikiLeaks in the summer and autumn.

The Guardian posted the account of a series of meetings between Manafort and Assange in 2013, 2015, and “around March 2016” from sources inside the Ecuadorean Embassy, where Assange has had sanctuary for years to avoid extradition — initially on sexual assault charges in Sweden and now from prosecution in the US and UK over his WikiLeaks activities.

The Embassy sources and a document from the Ecuadorean intelligence service say Manafort first met Assange a year after the WikiLeaks founder sought asylum. An internal document from the intelligence agency lists “Paul Manaford [sic]” and “Russians” among guests.

On March 9, WikiLeaks issued a public call for transcripts of Hillary Clinton’s speeches the investment firm Goldman Sachs. On the same day, Russian hackers began trying to access Democrat servers. On March 19, they were able to hack the e-mail account of Clinton’s Chief of Staff John Podesta.

The Mueller team is investigating possible links between the Trump campaign, Russian actors, and WikiLeaks. It is reportedly close to indictments of Trump campaign advisor Roger Stone and his close friend, conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi.

A draft court filing on Tuesday said Corsi told Stone in early August 2016 that WikiLeaks planned to release the e-mails damaging Clinton, including Podesta’s documents.

WikiLeaks published Podesta’s hacked e-mails in October.

“Word is friend in embassy [Assange] plans 2 more dumps. One shortly after I’m back. 2nd in Oct. Impact planned to be very damaging,” Corsi wrote to Stone. “Time to let more than [Podesta] to be exposed as in bed w enemy if they are not ready to drop [Clinton]. That appears to be the game hackers are now about.”