They had this ready to go with media leaks, etc. That is just too coincidental to me. I remembered at the time wondering how Trump could have selected such a radioactive campaign manager. Manafort's half life was like 10 days.
The fact that the Obama administration was going after Manafort months before his appointment as Trump’s campaign manager indicates to me that the Intelligence Community was already surveilling Trump’s campaign teams phone calls in early 2016. Manafort would have been in contact with the team for months before his appointment. The Intelligence Community knew he was going to get appointed and had this black ledger waiting for him.
John Solomon, if you’re listening, look for an earlier FISA warrant, probably in the January/February 2016 timeframe.