Posted on 10/30/2017 8:25:23 AM PDT by yoe
Politico has posted the ( 12-count indictment) handed up against Paul Manafort and Richard Gates on Friday by the Washington grand jury hearing evidence brought before it by Robert Mueller’s team of all-star prosecutors. The charges all relate or derive from Manafort’s business activities that predate Manafort’s involvement with the Trump campaign (although various related deceptions are alleged to date). I don’t believe that Gates ever had any involvement with the Trump campaign to begin with.
The charges have nothing to do with collusion. As Andrew McCarthy (anticipated) this past August, they are evidently intended to put the squeeze on Manafort to provide evidence against principals in the Trump campaign.
Up-date: A man described as a former foreign policy adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign has also now been revealed secretly to have pleaded guilty earlier this month to lying to the FBI about his outreach to Russian officials. The former foreign policy adviser is one George Papadopolous, whom I have never previously heard of.
(Excerpt) Read more at powerlineblog.com ...
Papadopoulos seems to be a moron. His statements to the FBI are contradicted by his own email records and messages to the campaign. Guaranteed legal problems. Of course, Clintonistas can get away with this kind of thing, but Republicans cannot.
Did he not even bother to review his own emails before speaking with the FBI? Did he do the Jan. 27 meeting without even consulting legal advice??? Seems like he thought he could just blow it all off by saying the contacts were before he was associated with the campaign.
Of course, the really important factor is that nothing described in the govt’s document gives the slightest hint that there was anything nefarious going on AT ALL. So one minor campaign consultant thought that making contact with a certain foreign government might be a useful thing for a (potential) future president?? B.F.D.
Democrat and Republican candidates have forever made select foreign trips and contacts to improve their knowledge, prove their foreign policy credentials etc. There is nothing at all wrong with the mere “get acquainted” contacts. In this case, it does not even seem to have proceeded beyond Papadopoulos. There seems to be no evidence that the Trump campaign actually DID anything at all with the contact. No nefarious deeds, not even any actual information conveyed. B.F.D.
Well, first reading it sounds like the two are FUBAR by FBAR.
It’s one thing to allege, it’s another to prove. But this should be pretty black and white and easy to prove. I don’t see Trump pardoning this, if the facts are as alleged.
But IF they can’t prove ownership of the foreign accounts and the failure to report, then Mueller and everyone else involved in bringing charges should be disbarred.
Nevertheless, this doesn’t have anything to do with collusion. Is this all they got?
No reason for a witch hunt. We already know who the witch is.
How many foreign accounts do Hillary and Bill have and do they report on them all?
Or maybe they are smart enough to run all their bribes through their charitable foundation.
I don’t think Trump would pardon Manafort for these charges. These are financial crimes that have nothing to do the campaign or anything else Trump related.
I say let Manafort defend himself. Maybe a jury will see him as a victim of a political witch hunt and return a not guilty verdict.
Er, no. Manafort had a deal long before this. It’s a formality. This puts the squeeze on M or others to indict the Podestas (”Company A and Company B”).
Ridiculous how anyone can think this stuff from 2012-2015 can apply FORWARD. Get a clue.
I wonder what penalty Pap... agreed to. The swamp wants Trump and any future non-Politico who dares run for high office to know how dangerous and powerful the swamp is.
Refuse to be identified as any particular gender
No, he should come out as a Democrat and call for Trump’s impeachment. All the charges will be dropped by tomorrow morning.
And voted for Hillary!
Washington (CNN)Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former Trump campaign official Rick Gates surrendered Monday to Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller.
Gates, 45, is a longtime business associate of Manafort, 68, having worked together since the mid-2000s, and served as his deputy on the campaign. The two were indicted under seal on Friday, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The indictment against the two men contains 12 counts: conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts.
Manafort arrived at the FBI’s Washington field office Monday morning. The two are being processed separately, according to a law enforcement official. They will later be transported to federal district court in Washington later Monday morning.
The two are scheduled to make their initial court appearances before US District Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson at 1:30 p.m. ET Monday.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/30/politics/paul-manafort-russia-investigation-surrender/index.html
My suggestion to Manafort is to immediately release a statement that he is coming out as gay.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
While ‘coming out’, he somehow fell down some steps, bumped his head (can’t recall a darn thing anymore!) and by golly, he broke a toe, too.
Dude, you're not the only one. Interesting....
How did a 30 year old guy nobody’said ever heard of come to have anything to do with the Trump campaign...?
And what was this guy doing for whom before that...?
Mueller is now on a roll to end President Trump. Looks real bad and President Trump will not set up a new Special Counsel and shut Mueller down. Mueller will do it by inditing many others to force release of information. He is building a case to impeach Trump and might make it. President trump hasn’t the will to cut him off.
Any overlap with Manafort?
The discovery of high-profile Democrats like Podesta being paid lucrative fees for lobbying to lift U.S. sanctions on Russia contrasts with charges from Democrats that President Donald Trump and his key aides are soft on Russia while the Obama administration was tough on Moscow.
Podesta’s efforts were a key part of under-the-radar lobbying during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign led mainly by veteran Democratic strategists to remove sanctions against Sberbank and VTB Capital, Russia’s second largest bank.
Yep, Presidential pardon is not something that can be contested, and whom he pardons is not limited, with the exception being a President cannot pardon himself.
[I guess the POTUS and VP are having lunch with the AG today.]
Hopefully they give Jeffy a box to pack up all of his s**t.....
“While ‘coming out’, he somehow fell down some steps, bumped his head (can’t recall a darn thing anymore!) and by golly, he broke a toe, too.”
Manafort should say he had no intent to do anything wrong, to use the Hilliary defense, and openly state that it is a precedent set by Comey in regards to Hilliary’s nefarious deeds.
MSM has been beating the "Russian Collusion" drum ever since the election. If no one's indicted, then it's exposed as a witch hunt, an attempt to overturn the election.
Even if the supposed wrongdoing happened years before the election, even if there's no evidence Trump was involved, they'll tar these guys 24/7 with prominent (R) designations and tie them to Trump, ad infinitum. The name Scooter Libby comes to mind.
Added bonus: they knock Weinstein off the front page...
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