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In what appears to be a reference to the peace plan, the transcript states that Mr. Manafort and Mr. Kilimnik discussed the issue at least five times: in August 2016, in December 2016, during the inauguration week of January 2017, in February 2017 and during winter 2018. Mr. Downing told Judge Jackson that documents that prosecutors had produced detailing communications with Mr. Kilimnik were “nonsense” because whether or not Mr. Trump was elected, “the sanctions were going to continue against Russia.”

But Mr. Weissmann said the Aug. 2, 2016, meeting was highly unusual given that Mr. Manafort was then busy running Mr. Trump’s campaign. “That meeting and what happened at that meeting is of significance to the special counsel,” he said.

Joining Mr. Manafort and Mr. Kilimnik that day at the Grand Havana club in Manhattan was Rick Gates, deputy chairman of the Trump campaign and Mr. Manafort’s longtime right-hand man. The three men apparently considered the get-together to be sensitive. When the meeting broke up, prosecutors said, Mr. Manafort “took the precaution” of leaving with Mr. Gates through a separate door than Mr. Kilimnik.

The transcript makes clear that Mr. Gates, who pleaded guilty to two felonies and has been cooperating with prosecutors for a year, was a key source of information about Mr. Manafort, Mr. Kilimnik and other issues central to their inquiry.

For instance, it was apparently Mr. Gates who revealed to prosecutors that Mr. Manafort had ordered Trump campaign polling data to be sent to Mr. Kilimnik as Mr. Trump was clinching the Republican nomination in spring 2016. The New York Times has reported that Mr. Manafort wanted Mr. Kilimnik to pass the data to two oligarchs who had financed Ukrainian political parties aligned with Russia.

Prosecutors said Mr. Manafort lied about the data transfer even though he had access to reports of the F.B.I.’s interviews and was “very well aware of what Mr. Gates had said about sharing of polling data.”

Mr. Downing suggested that the special counsel’s office was not nearly skeptical enough of Mr. Gates, who is awaiting sentencing for conspiracy and lying to the federal authorities. If the judge decides that Mr. Manafort lied based on what Mr. Gates has said, Mr. Downing said, “We would really have grave concerns.”

But Judge Jackson cited corroboration for Mr. Gates’s statements about Mr. Manafort. She also said the fact that Mr. Gates had previously been caught lying did not mean that “not one word he said to the Office of Special Counsel was true.”