Judge sets trial date for former Obama White House counsel charged with illegal lobbying

Robert Mueller may not have been able to charge President Donald Trump over Russia collusion, but the special counsel did uncover some questionable behavior by one former Obama White House official, who is now getting ready to go to court.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson has set a date of Aug. 12 for the Washington, D.C.-based criminal trial of Greg Craig, who has been charged in relation to an illegal lobbying scheme.

Craig served as White House counsel under Barack Obama in 2009 and 2010. He also advised former President Bill Clinton during his impeachment proceedings.

Overseas scheme

The criminal charges against Craig stem from the time he spent lobbying on behalf of then-Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was at the time under scrutiny for sending a political opponent to jail. Yanukovych ran a pro-Russian government in Ukraine before being deposed in 2014.

Mueller recommended an investigation of Craig after a connection was discovered between him and Paul Manafort, who also worked for Yanukovych at the time. Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman who is in the midst of his own legal trouble, financially backed a 2012 report written by Craig in defense of the Ukranian president.

Craig has been charged with failure to register as a foreign agent.

Placing blame

This comes just months after Craig’s former law firm, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, reached a $4.6 million settlement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) for their failure to register as foreign agents during their collective work with Ukraine.

The firm blamed Craig for their misstep, citing “false and misleading oral and written statements” from the former White House counsel.

Still, Craig’s lawyers said before charges were filed that their client shouldn’t have been implicated at all.

“Mr. Craig is not guilty of any charge and the government’s stubborn insistence on prosecuting Mr. Craig is a misguided abuse of prosecutorial discretion,” the attorneys said in a statement.

Craig has pleaded not guilty. He has referred to the charges against him as “unprecedented and unjustified.”

But only time will tell if the court agrees.