Of course it will be. But that won't stop the crooning and shrieking for a while.
Paul Manafort, Who Once Ran Trump Campaign, Told to Surrender
- Thread starter Tony Stark
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Of course it will be. But that won't stop the crooning and shrieking for a while.
2017 are mentioned as well, Gates was in the WH as late as June 2017.
Secondly, Trump's campaign manager was charged with conspiracy against the US and you can't tie this indictment to Trump's campaign? Are you kidding me?
Erick Erickson: It's Paul Manafort's indictment, not Trump's
By Erick Erickson | Fox News
Much of the political left is cheering about the indictment of Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort. They think it will undermine President Trump. The problem, though, is that it appears increasingly likely that Manfort’s indictment has nothing to do with the Trump campaign.
It is true that Robert Mueller began investigating Paul Manafort based on Manafort’s dealings with the Trump campaign and Russia. But the special prosecutor, like most prosecutors, can go in the direction an investigation takes him. If the investigation goes off the trail of the campaign into a new direction, the special prosecutor can go in that new direction. That appears to be the case here.
The federal investigators have been curious about various wire transfers during the 2012 period. Manafort has close ties to both Russian operatives and various other unsavory figures tied into Moscow’s political apparatus.
It appears he may have transferred money and accepted payments that he should not have and that he possibly failed to accurate report them on taxes. This is all based on the initial reports that are leaking out.
If that is the case, Manafort and his associate Rick Gates are getting indicted for things far removed from the Trump campaign.
A talking point already shaping up on the left related to this is that Manafort must have been forced to work for Trump by the Russians.
The thinking goes that there is no way Manafort would have wanted to work on so high profile a campaign given his baggage. Someone must have forced him and that someone is the Russians.
This seems to be wishful thinking by members of the so-called Resistance who are lost in their fever dreams of Trump hatred.
Manafort worked on a number of high profile campaigns and just because you never heard of him before now does not mean he was an unknown or minor figure.
Manafort’s indictment in a matter unrelated to the Trump campaign gives the Trump team a new talking point. They had already made a few unflattering statements about Manafort and can now claim that this clears them.
The Mueller team looked into the campaign, went down various rabbit holes, and wound up in Manafort’s tax returns circa 2012, well before Trump considered running for office. Therefore, they can claim, there is nothing there with the campaign.
It is a believable talking point except for the fact that the investigation continues. Still, this will be a distraction from that investigation as media sharks circle Manafort.
One last point to consider here is that the press probably hopes, as some TV pundits are speculating, that Manafort’s indictment is designed to make him squeal about the Trump campaign. That all sounds well and good, but if Vladimir Putin really were involved the chances of Manafort squealing on anybody are really low — and there is no evidence that there is anything to squeal about. But the left’s fever dreams against Trump continue and Russia stealing the election is a necessary component to those dreams.
As long as Robert Mueller fails to turn up evidence to show Russia stole the election, the American left will continue to believe in an elaborate conspiracy. It is far easier to believe that than to believe Hillary Clinton ran a terrible campaign.
By Erick Erickson | Fox News
Much of the political left is cheering about the indictment of Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort. They think it will undermine President Trump. The problem, though, is that it appears increasingly likely that Manfort’s indictment has nothing to do with the Trump campaign.
It is true that Robert Mueller began investigating Paul Manafort based on Manafort’s dealings with the Trump campaign and Russia. But the special prosecutor, like most prosecutors, can go in the direction an investigation takes him. If the investigation goes off the trail of the campaign into a new direction, the special prosecutor can go in that new direction. That appears to be the case here.
The federal investigators have been curious about various wire transfers during the 2012 period. Manafort has close ties to both Russian operatives and various other unsavory figures tied into Moscow’s political apparatus.
It appears he may have transferred money and accepted payments that he should not have and that he possibly failed to accurate report them on taxes. This is all based on the initial reports that are leaking out.
If that is the case, Manafort and his associate Rick Gates are getting indicted for things far removed from the Trump campaign.
A talking point already shaping up on the left related to this is that Manafort must have been forced to work for Trump by the Russians.
The thinking goes that there is no way Manafort would have wanted to work on so high profile a campaign given his baggage. Someone must have forced him and that someone is the Russians.
This seems to be wishful thinking by members of the so-called Resistance who are lost in their fever dreams of Trump hatred.
Manafort worked on a number of high profile campaigns and just because you never heard of him before now does not mean he was an unknown or minor figure.
Manafort’s indictment in a matter unrelated to the Trump campaign gives the Trump team a new talking point. They had already made a few unflattering statements about Manafort and can now claim that this clears them.
The Mueller team looked into the campaign, went down various rabbit holes, and wound up in Manafort’s tax returns circa 2012, well before Trump considered running for office. Therefore, they can claim, there is nothing there with the campaign.
It is a believable talking point except for the fact that the investigation continues. Still, this will be a distraction from that investigation as media sharks circle Manafort.
One last point to consider here is that the press probably hopes, as some TV pundits are speculating, that Manafort’s indictment is designed to make him squeal about the Trump campaign. That all sounds well and good, but if Vladimir Putin really were involved the chances of Manafort squealing on anybody are really low — and there is no evidence that there is anything to squeal about. But the left’s fever dreams against Trump continue and Russia stealing the election is a necessary component to those dreams.
As long as Robert Mueller fails to turn up evidence to show Russia stole the election, the American left will continue to believe in an elaborate conspiracy. It is far easier to believe that than to believe Hillary Clinton ran a terrible campaign.
Where is 2017 mentioned in regards to Manafort's activities in the indictment. I am not finding that.
IMO the end year of the Count means little when all the supporting materials lists dates in 2006 to 2013. We will let the lawyers parse through this, and provide more complete context.
Manafort is 68,I wonder if he wants to die in a federal prison
Most likely not. As I said above, the lefties need to rethink the theory that mannafort is going to flip and become state's witness against, Trump, the one guy in the universe who has the power to pardon him. THAT IS PROBABLY NOT THE SMARTEST THEORY IN TOWN. You can argue that Mueller can dick around with a reduced sentence for mannafort but mannafort doesn't have anything on trump or it might not be much. So then Mueller runs the risk that it does not help in his charges against trump, so trump skates, and then mannafort gets off light for taking the plea deal. Not pretty for Mueller's legacy either.
You and your ilk have this the wrong way around. Mueller has come to the conclusion that he has ABSOLUTELY ZERO chance of nailing trump on obstruction of justice so rather then close out his investigation as a loser he is going to try to/and probably successfully so/ get a pile of convictions on other things, mostly related to his underlings issues that have nothing to do with trump.
The witch-hunt is about proving either collusion between trump and the Russians and/or obstruction of justice in regard to comey's firings. Your ilk and the lefty media can churn a pile of stuff for months but Mueller knows and trump's lawyers know that Meuller has lost ground on his central issues. BIGLY. And as I have said many, many, many times, I am all in favor of all of these nuisance side investigations because it is just making the House Committee more and more pissed each day as they try to explain to their constituents why the republicans are being checked for hemorrhoids every day but the dems are not being investigated.
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This is off base. Mueller is looking into Russian interference in the election and anything on the periphery. This can include Trump, or not. But, most likely includes many people in and from his campaign. These charges usually come out en masse. Some of the charges manafort is facing today were running up against statute of limitations issues and had to be filed. This indictment does not mean that these are or are not the entirety of charges Manafort will ultimately face.
What we know from this is Mueller ain’t playing around. That is good.
Trump is most likely the target of an obstruction of justice investigation and the broader Russia investigation - firing Comey is at the top of the list for obstruction of justice.
It's not end year of the count, it said IN AND AROUND 2016/2017 when the crimes were committed, they don't have to publish the entire evidence in the indictment.
Mueller has also been working with State Prosecutors on the Manafort case so you might want to rethink that (Trump has no power to pardon on the state level)