NY's political prosecution of Manafort should scare us all

The Hill ^ | 03/14/2019 | ANDREW C. MCCARTHY

[Rusty0604]

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has indicted Paul Manafort for mortgage fraud and more than a dozen other state felonies. This is a nakedly political prosecution. Democrats, who run the Empire State, are apoplectic that President Trump could pardon his former campaign manager, who has been sentenced to 90 months in prison in the Mueller probe.

Well, as the New York Times notes, the New York state charges filed Wednesday are based on bank loans that were part of the fraud charges brought by Robert Mueller in the Virginia case. The Times says that “the Manhattan prosecutors deferred their inquiry in order not to interfere with Mr. Mueller’s larger investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.” Having been in these tussles, I don’t buy that. The Manhattan prosecutors stood down because, once Mueller’s federal case went forward, they were out of luck.

And now, gamesmanship is the order of the day: The state prosecutors have brought a case they otherwise never would waste time on — not because the case should be done, but to try to block a pardon.

If Trump were to pardon Manafort, that would vitiate the federal prosecution. The point of the pardon is to excuse the offense as if it never happened. So, the idea is that if Manafort’s federal prosecution were to be voided, there would be no state double jeopardy bar against a subsequent New York State prosecution.

[Pearls Before Swine]

It’s technically not “double jeopardy,” but it is. Piling on.

[griswold3]

Show us the man, we’ll show you the crime.
Same as it ever was....

[Responsibility2nd]

Manafort is a political prisoner. Pure and simple.

Next up. Concentration camps to house all these “enemies of the Reich”.

[farming pharmer]

Can President Trump just cut the sentence to time served?

[Rusty0604]

“If I were representing Manafort, I would consider asking for a commutation, not a pardon. In a commutation, the president can reduce the sentence down to time served and spare the person any further prison time on the offense. Yet, the convictions stand.”

[McGavin999]

Trump doesn’t have to pardon. He can do for Manafort what Obama did for Chelesa Manning.....commute the sentence

[Enterprise]

Trump owes Manafort nothing. But all things considered, I would like to see him at least commute the sentence to time served, and issue a written statement that in his opinion, the whole intent of the prosecution was political, and was ultimately aimed at The President.

[marron]

If Manafort had rolled on Trump, he would not be where he is.

Rosenstein had already looked at his case years ago and dropped it. Years later they resurrected it to squeeze him, but he either had nothing to give or wasn’t willing to give it, so away he goes.

Cohen, as much as we don’t like him, is in the same position. He was battered and squeezed, and presumably if he had something, anything, he would have used it to save himself. But Trump’s own faithless lawyer, the one who taped Trump without his knowing... had nothing to give. So off to prison he goes.

You’d imagine that a guy with complicated personal and business dealings has got to have some dirty dealings in his past, and clearly that’s what Mueller assumed, they figured surely if we dig deep enough we’ll find something. But Trump is evidently a pretty straight arrow. Much straighter than even his supporters might have imagined.

[silverleaf]

That state indictment is a collage of wishy washy felonies, some “ class E”
The bank is not even mentioned as a plaintiff
The state is claiming Manafort “ inflated” the value of his assets to get a mortgage
Was it for a personal residence?
Was the residence value fairly stated?
Did he intend to make the loan payments?
Was this “defrauding” the bank?
Did they recall the loan?
Was it repaid?
Was there intent to steal money?
Did anyone lose money?

[ConorMacNessa]

As McCarthy suggests, commutation will leave the convictions intact and preclude the state of New York proceeding.

[Logical me]

NY is a garbage pile of communists crap and will never recover as a worthwhile State. It is so trashed that it will crumble under its own weight. In essence they are trying to be a Country by pulling away from America. They join California is being the most disliked State in the Union.

[Rusty0604]

Now, you are just asking logical, common sense questions.

[ETL]

Crooked Cop and Special Counsel Robert Mueller Charged Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former Campaign Manager, for working
with Ukrainian’s Leader, [Putin stooge], Viktor Yanukovych in 2013. However, Mueller worked with Yanukovych in 2013 as well.

Via The Gateway Pundit…

This is not the first interaction Mueller had with the Russians.

In 2009 Mueller hand delivered uranium to the Russians on an airport tarmac per the request of Hillary Clinton.

Mueller also was Head of the FBI when the Obama Administration sold 20% of US uranium to the Russians in the Uranium One deal.

Mueller also reportedly visited Moscow before he visited the Ukrainian President in 2013.

How can Mueller be investigating Manafort for business with the Ukraine and Russia when Mueller is as suspect as Manafort ever was?

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/04/mueller-investigating-manafort-for-working-for-former-ukrainian-president-viktor-yanukovych-in-2013-but-mueller-worked-with-yanukovych-in-2013-as-well/

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Viktor Yanukovych

[litehaus]

Lois Lerner...Obama’s persecutor

Comey,McCabe etc etc Also Obumster’s weapons

And on and on ...

Maybe one of the Donalds friends with big bucks will do him a favor and buy a dozen P I s to hound/hammer some of these bastards all the way to their Psychiatrists office ??

Sounds fair and balanced to me....

[Mears]

“They join California is being the most disliked State in the Union”

---

I love New York State.

.

[silverleaf]

Trump owes Manafort the GOP nomination.
Manafort’s seasoned brilliance in the mechanics of the GOP nomination process thwarted internal GOP plans to deny Trump the nomination
There were multiple tracks, from subverting delegates to throwing the Convention nominating process into multiple rounds allowing a substitute ticket by technical means
My theory is that Pence and Ryan were on alert as a standby ticket - and knew it

[Rusty0604]

Wasn’t everyone in the Obama administration working with Ukraine?

[I want the USA back]

Why I do not trust the “Criminal justice” system. They use their power for political gain, and not to keep us safe.

They have too much power, and there is no check or balance, except sometimes for the ACLU, which is politically biased.

[Rusty0604]

I know, I read it, thanks.