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Barack Obama’s ‘scandal-free presidency is in jeopardy following the indictment of his former White House counsel Gregory Craig on Thursday.

In February 2018, the former President bragged that “We didn’t have a scandal that embarrassed us.” But on Thursday, his former White House counsel was indicted for giving a false statement to the Justice Department during a probe into his work on behalf of the Ukraine.

Craig is the first of Obama’s cabinet to be indicted after leaving the White House. More charges are expected against others in Obama’s administration.

On Wednesday, Craig’s lawyers said they expected him to be indicted due to his link to jailed lobbyist Paul Manafort, the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post reported.

Craig also served as former President Bill Clinton’s defense counsel before leaving in 2012 to join the law firm of Skadden, Apps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

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Craig served as Obama’s counsel while still associated with the law firm. He resigned in April 2018 amid a probe into whether his law firm failed to register as foreign lobbyists for his activities, according to The Journal.

Federal investigators say Manafort used an offshore account to route more than $4 million from the Ukrainians into Craig’s law firm.

In January, Skadden reached a settlement with the Justice Department and agreed to turn over the $4 million and other fees in exchange for facing no criminal charges.

In a statement, the law firm said it was mislead by oral and written statements made by Craig.

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Manafort (pictured) was sentenced in March to seven-and-a-half years in prison for financial violations and other white collar crimes.

Craig is the first prominent Democrat under Barack Obama to be indicted in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into possible Russian collusion in the 2016 election.

During testimony at a Senate subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General William Barr shocked Democrats by announcing Obama spied on Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign offices in order to provide damaging information to Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton.

“I think spying did occur,” Barr said. “I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal,” he added.

Barr’s remarks backed up Trump’s claims that Obama wiretapped his Trump Tower office in 2016.

Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, was caught off guard by Barr’s comments. She said Barr had gone “off the rails” and was serving Trump rather than the public.

Barr’s remarks sparked a frenzy on Twitter.com. Many worried liberals called for Barr’s impeachment and they demanded the immediate release of Mueller’s full report.
 

Photos by Alex Wong/Getty Images, Pete Souza/Getty Images