There is a cooperation agreement.

Update: So just some detail here. We don’t know precisely what the scope of the cooperation is. We don’t know who he’s cooperating against. What we have here is that Andrew Weismann, in the court a short time ago, referred to the deal as a “cooperation agreement.” The hung jury charges from Virginia will be dropped, pending his cooperation.

Later Update: I got this wrong. I’m glad I did. But note that last night I wrote that if Manafort was going to cooperate it made sense that he would keep that fact under wraps until the very last moment. It appears that that is just what happened.

Look here for the latest updates from our team at the courthouse and in DC and NY are publishing in real time about this morning’s events at the federal courthouse in DC. But let me note a side point, which is quite interesting. Paul Manafort’s team has been putting out disinformation about this deal for a couple weeks now. I don’t put this out as a criticism or not. It just is what it is. And frankly, in a purely pragmatic light, it made a lot of sense to do that. This had to be secret until the last possible moment, especially from the President. He needed the element of surprise. And he got it. Read More

The two words “remain safe” in Manafort lawyer Kevin Downing’s comment on his client’s decision this morning says quite a lot. “He wanted to make sure that his family was able to remain safe and live a good life.”

Here’s something that caught my eye in the new Kavanaugh controversy about an alleged sexual assault while he and the alleged victim were in High School in the 1980s. Kavanaugh went to an elite DC preparatory school, Georgetown Preparatory School, in Bethesda, Maryland. It was an all-boys school. So no female students. The New Yorker article says the alleged victim “attended a nearby high school.” Read More

I had planned to write a lengthy post today about the second leg of our big, annual Prime sign-up drive. Now we have the Manafort plea deal breaking. tl;dr: It’s really important. If you’re a regular TPM Reader, please sign up for Prime. Cheap, awesome, important. Click here. It hugely important to the future of this site.

This piece got a bit lost in the drama of the Manafort plea deal this morning. But it’s a don’t miss: Allegra Kirkland looks at the White Supremacist Leader in Idaho running and anti-Semitic campaign robocalls across the country for this year’s midterm election.

TPM’s Caitlin MacNeal takes us inside the courtroom yesterday (sub req) as the dramatic, key moments unfolded.

Does your last name start with P, R, S or T? If it does, and you haven’t signed up for Prime yet, can you make today the day you join us? No, there’s no magic reason tied to these four letters. And if your last name starts with one of the other 22 you can definitely sign up today too. But I was reminded yesterday of how much inertia, convenience and evolving mores among news producers and news consumers all play key roles in this process. Do you pay for news when it’s mainly been free online for the last 25 years or so?

So I thought I’d pick a few letters and for those folks make the case directly. Bringing a substantial number of you into the fold as paying subscribers is really, really important to the future of this site. It just takes a moment to sign up. It’s probably easier to do on the weekend since other matters aren’t as pressing. So if you’re a regular reader, if you’ve been thinking about signing up, I need you to take a moment right now – actually, this moment – and take out your wallet and click here and sign up. It really just takes a moment and it’s well worth it.

You may remember that during the World Cup – I’m not sure which game but late in the tournament – some Pussy Riot members rushed on to the field dressed as police officers and disrupted the match. One of them is now fighting for his life after being poisoned.

The head of FEMA not only refused to correct President Trump’s claims about Puerto Rico/Hurricane Maria deaths. He managed to blame some number of the deaths on spousal abuse.

FEMA Chief notes many of the deaths post-Hurricane Maria may have been because of spousal abuse the President is not responsible for. pic.twitter.com/vNvESNbveA

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) September 16, 2018