ACQUITTED

Ex-White House Counsel Greg Craig Found Not Guilty of False Statements

The lawyer was accused of making false statements on his work for the government of Ukraine in 2012.

Former White House counsel Greg Craig was found not guilty of making false statements on Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reports. Craig and his former law firm—Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom—was reportedly hired to write a report for the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice about the “fairness” of an opposing politician’s trial. The Justice Department claimed that Craig was acting as a foreign agent while reaching out to several media outlets about the report, and did not register his activity with the DOJ before working with Ukraine’s hired PR agents. Craig was accused of making misleading statements to the department to avoid the need to register. Craig’s attorneys said the lawyer was simply ensuring media outlets “got the story right” during closing arguments Tuesday, and denied their client was acting on Ukraine’s “instruction.” The investigation into Craig stemmed from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.