Posted on 09/14/2018 7:28:14 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
Special counsel Robert Mueller has filed a superseding criminal information against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, indicating a forthcoming guilty plea on charges related to his work lobbying for pro Russian forces in Ukraine.
The filing was made in federal court on Friday, ahead of a pretrial conference at 11 a.m.
The pretrial conference was changed to an arraignment and plea agreement hearing before Judge Amy Berman Jackson, according to a notice Friday morning from the court.
A criminal information typically precedes a guilty plea.
Officials told The Washington Post that Manafort had agreed to plead guilty to federal crimes.
A guilty plea will allow Manafort to evade what was likely to be another explosive trial stemming from Mueller's sprawling investigation into Russian interference, weeks after he was convicted in a separate bank and tax fraud trail in Virginia.
It remains unclear whether any plea agreement will include Manafort's cooperation in Mueller's investigation.
Should Manafort agree to cooperate, the development could be significant. Manafort served as Trump's campaign chairman until August 2016, and was one of three Trump associates who participated in the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer after being offered damaging information on Hillary Clinton, Trump's opponents.
The criminal information alleges that Manafort illegally lobbied on behalf of pro-Russian forces in Ukraine.
It also alleges that he laundered over $30 million into the United States in connection with his work, evading over $15 million in taxes. It charges him with one count of conspiracy against the United States and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Manafort was convicted in August on eight counts of tax and bank fraud, which included failing to report foreign bank accounts, in a federal district court in Virginia. The three-week trial centered on income Manafort earned working as a political consultant for pro-Russian Ukraine.
The jury failed to reach a consensus on another 10 counts, forcing the judge to rule a mistrial on those charges. Prosecutors had not yet said whether they planned to retry him on the 10 counts.
In the D.C. case, Manafort was facing seven separate charges, including failing to register as a lobbyist for a foreign country, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and obstructing justice for witness tampering.
Prosecutors had offered Manafort the opportunity to have a single trial on all charges, but he refused, forcing prosecutors to bring charges both in the Eastern District of Virginia and D.C.
Court watchers had expected the D.C. trail to be more explosive than the Virginia proceedings and uncover links between President Trump’s campaign and Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
“Gotta love that “4D chess”, huh?”
Are you calling Trump a loser?
No, actually. I'm calling anyone who believes the BS 4D chess or "Q" nonsense losers. The President knows how to win, and wins regular. However, he is indeed losing his grip on the administration, and it begins with Sessions, who never should have been appointed to begin with.
And the Podestas (and Hillary) are *still* untouched.
Would a Clinton/Obama top advisor, goon, be even looked at for the same issye for the same Ukrussians?
Podesta, Blumenthal come to memory...
Until inserted into the campaign by the Deep state for there little project. Hope the good guys investigate manafort hiring and how that went down. NSA / DIA have everything. Be great to pull that out down the road a bit if his hiring was the result of Obama and Clinton flying monkeys that left an email, text, travel trail.
Did we ever find out who hired Craig Livingstone in the travel office during the Bubba years?
Careful, the trumpanzees run wild in these here parts.
I am firmly behind Trump, but I'm also a realist and, unfortunately, Sessions was Trumps BIGGEST mistake. Sessions will also likely be the catalyst for the end of the Trump administration. He sure as hell ain't on Trump's team.
17M (spent) - 46M (Manafort forfeiture) / 9 convictions
Total cost = -3,222,222 per conviction
Not bad.
“No, actually. I’m calling anyone who believes the BS 4D chess or “Q” nonsense losers.”
Well, I totally agree about the “Q” nonsense.
But you invoked the “4D chess” meme, which is how the #neverTrumpers (disguised as Sessions haters) mock anyone who believes Trump has the upper hand.
I have always said Trump uses common sense, street smarts and conservative principles to outwit his opponents.
It doesn’t require 4D chess (whatever that is), or coded messages from “Q” (whatever that is) to outsmart the deep state.
They are actually pretty stupid. Their contempt and low estimate of the American people, and their reliance on dishonesty and discredited ideologies leaves them tangled in a web of their own confusion.
All Trump needs to do is keep a clear head and let them thrash and wriggle as they sink farther into the mire.
When Trump hangs back month after month and “fails” to fire the people you want him to fire, and “fails” to indict the people you want him to indict - don’t be so quick to assume that’s failure.
Trump is playing out a winning hand, and if it sometimes seems like he’s losing to the deep state - just ask yourself how many times the pundits wrote him off throughout 2015 and 2016, saying “Trump has finally stepped in it this time - it was quite a run, but it’s all down hill from here.”
If you are betting against Trump, be prepared to lose.
Trump is playing out a winning hand
I don't believe a "winning hand" means multiple indictments, guilty pleas and sentences for former associates whilst the criminal Clinton/Obama cabal continues running loose. I am also sick of hearing that he "might" declassify the FISA docs. Just do it. If it is so very important, let us see it. Expose the criminals. Do it now, before it's too late.
There should be nothing left of the anti-American leftists at this point, at least not enough to pose any serious threat to Republicans or Trump either later this year or in 2020. Unfortunately, they are regrouping. They are planning. They will strike, and they will strike hard.
And all of us continue to do what we always do: sit around with thumbs up our noses.
“I don’t believe a “winning hand” means multiple indictments, guilty pleas and sentences for former associates whilst the criminal Clinton/Obama cabal continues running loose.”
Bottom line is that you think Trump is losing this battle - and you’re not alone - all of the Sessions haters think that.
Hating Sessions, and hating the fact that he’s still not fired, is just your sly way of deeming Trump’s presidency a failure - without having to come right out and say it.
Look, if you’ve given up on Trump, just admit it. Pinning the whole thing on Jeff Sessions and some RINO senators is just silly. Sessions is the AG. Trump is the President. If you’re dissapointed in what’s happening or not happening - don’t forget where the buck stops.
I for one am not disappointed. Jail sentences for Obama coconspirators is not the goal I’m after - it would be fun, I admit. But a show of force right now may be exactly the wrong tone for Trump to set in his new MAGA deal with America.
I think he wants to show that he’s returning the power to the people. Being a vengeful POTUS and putting a bunch of hatchet men in charge of the DOJ and FBI and unleashing them on his political enemies - is NOT the right message.
Well, you're 100% wrong. I am and continue to be firmly in Trump's corner.
Look, if you’ve given up on Trump, just admit it.
You have no idea what you're talking about.
Being a vengeful POTUS and putting a bunch of hatchet men in charge of the DOJ and FBI and unleashing them on his political enemies - is NOT the right message.
You clearly have no idea how political war is waged. Leaving your political enemy with the ability to regroup and come back at you is the losing position.
“You clearly have no idea how political war is waged. Leaving your political enemy with the ability to regroup and come back at you is the losing position.”
You think I have no idea how political war is waged? What about Trump, who you claim to support? Does he have no idea his political war is waged?
Because my way is Trump’s way: Avoid making political martyrs by locking up political leaders who will just be pardoned anyway.
Do you see Trump locking up any opposition party leaders? Do you see Trump forcing his DOJ to do so? Do you see Trump replacing his AG with one who will lock them up?
No, you do not.
So you are the one who is doubting Trump’s approach to waging political war, not me. I support exactly what Trump is doing. He’s fighting a war of ideas. He’s fighting for the hearts and minds of voters. He’s fighting to win votes, not indictments.
Clearly, you are deeply disappointed in Trump’s failure to replace Jeff Sessions and get these opposition leaders locked up - you just won’t admit it.
Look, either you trust Trump’s judgment on this, or you don’t. You either understand and support his hands off approach, or you think he’s making a huge mistake not locking his enemies up. Or you think he’s weak and that the deep state has him beat.
Which is it?
Um, yes, I do expect them to lock these criminals up. The longer these criminals go without punishment, the more legitimacy is given to a two tier legal system in America. In case you skipped civics & history class, that's NOT how it works in America.
Clearly, you are deeply disappointed in Trump’s failure to replace Jeff Sessions and get these opposition leaders locked up - you just won’t admit it.
I've already said it many times, moron - Sessions was Trump's BIGGEST mistake. He never should have been appointed to begin with. He is a swamp monster and is actively fighting to subvert the administration.
Look, either you trust Trump’s judgment on this, or you don’t. You either understand and support his hands off approach, or you think he’s making a huge mistake not locking his enemies up.
Has nothing to do with trust. I do indeed trust Trump, but he is being beat by the deep state. If you can't see that, you're woefully, willfully blind to it. Quit acting like a dumbass. Trump could put an end to ALL of this - ESPECIALLY the BS witch hunt of a "russian" investigation. It's illegal. ALL OF IT. There is no need to suffer through it.
“....Trump could put an end to ALL of this.”
“....he is being beat by the deep state.”
“....Trump’s BIGGEST mistake.”
“I do indeed trust Trump”
Sure doesn’t sound like it.
Only because you are too dense to even see what's happening right before your own eyes.
“Only because you are too dense to even see what’s happening right before your own eyes.”
No, it’s because of actual statements you made.
You said Trump has made a serious mistake and the deep state has beaten him as a result. You said Trump could easily fix all of this, but has not done so.
You are clearly unhappy with what Trump is doing to counter the deep state.
So instead of calling me names, why not start being accountable for the words you say?
You said Trump has made a serious mistake and the deep state has beaten him as a result.
What I actually said was, Sessions was Trump's biggest mistake. I also said Trump is being beat by the deep state which, in the court of public opinion is true. I did NOT say that the deep state has beat him because of Sessions.
You said Trump could easily fix all of this, but has not done so.
Only an idiot would think such things would be "easily fixed". What I said was, Trump could put an end to all of this, and by that I mean he could actually put an end to the Mueller investigation, which is illegal and un-Constitutional, no matter how you slice or dice it. Instead, he suffers a BS witch hunt, supported by the deep state and the establishment thugs.
You are clearly unhappy with what Trump is doing to counter the deep state.
And you're not? "Drain the swamp" was the rallying call, not "Let the swamp suck us all in and drown us".
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