As I predicted – and most people predicted – Robert Mueller’s sealed indictment was for Paul Manafort, who served as Donald Trump’s campaign manager and adviser. While many hoped that Mueller’s team would swarm in on Manafort’s home and yank him out of bed to be handcuffed and frog-marched past the cameras, it didn’t happen like that. Manafort was allowed to turn himself in, which he did this morning. He met his lawyer and went to a local FBI office and turned himself in. I assume – but have not seen confirmed – that this was part of some kind of ongoing negotiation between Manafort and Mueller’s investigation. We knew months ago that Manafort was in Mueller’s crosshairs and that Mueller was squeezing Manafort for information about the other players. It’s because of Manafort’s squeals that we knew about Jared Kushner and Don Jr.’s meeting with the Russian lawyer (and Russian intelligence). As for the charges being brought against Manafort, well…
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his longtime business partner Rick Gates have been charged in a 12-count indictment with conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money and making false statements. It marked the first criminal allegations to come from Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 election.
Gates did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Jason Maloni, a spokesman for Manafort. Manafort was spotted walking into the FBI’s Washington Field Office Monday morning.
Prosecutors have been probing Manafort’s work as a political consultant in Ukraine, where he advised a Russia-friendly political party for years before his work with Trump. They have also been examining Manafort’s personal finances, and exploring possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, possible failure to register foreign bank accounts and related tax violations, according to a person familiar with the case. While Mueller’s probe has focused acutely on Manafort and former national security adviser Michael Flynn, investigators have shown interest in a broad array of other topics.
“Conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money and making false statements…” Grab the popcorn, peeps. I love the fact that WaPo is pretty much name-checking Mike Flynn too. Many think Flynn will be the next one, but I honestly think that when everything is said and done, Flynn will be one of the guys prosecuted the hardest. Like, his level of collusion with the Russians was INSANE. I doubt that Mueller is going to try to “flip” Flynn. I think Mueller is trying to get Flynn hanged for treason.
Other relevant tweets:
Manafort owed, it appears, something like $60 million to a Russian oligarch. That’s a lot of leverage over someone.
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) October 30, 2017
Manafort just walked into the FBI field office in D.C., using the front door (via CNN). https://t.co/n8TOn7j8wF
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 30, 2017
Manafort laundered more than $18 million in foreign money – "in total, more than $75 million flowed through the offshore accounts" pic.twitter.com/712nZiFddj
— Vera Bergengruen (@VeraMBergen) October 30, 2017
Fox News right now: pic.twitter.com/YTq9R3k1LS
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) October 30, 2017
From 2006 to 2017 (pre-and post-campaign) Manafort "knowingly and intentionally conspired to defraud the U.S.," according to the indictment. pic.twitter.com/BRWV42F19x
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 30, 2017
Photos courtesy of Getty.
The timeline stretches into 2017. That is not good for Trump, no matter how he tries to spin it.
There’s no question in my mind that Trump knew exactly what was going on. I believe his hands are filthy and this corruption is very deep. They need to throw everyone out of the white house, sage it and start from scratch.
Saging won’t do it. Call in the guys who clean up bloody crime scenes. Burn all the bedding and every chair trump’s rump touched. That’s a start, but it will still have a taint for a very long time.
Fumigate with a big ole tarp over the whole thing and bleach it like you own stocks in Clorox. Air filters. Steam cleaners full of holy water. One of those ladies like in Poltergeist should take up residence to investigate the wormholes of wickedness that will be left behind. Only hazmat team can enter his rooms, and I believe something nuclear may be involved. Shamans. Voodoo priestesses.
THEN we sage.
@magniliarose….even that may not be enough
Lol the sage… bleach and sage were my exact thoughts.
I’m enjoying how it’s been reported how much influence manafort had over Pence taking the VP slot. I wonder when that will be whitewashed away…
I still need brain bleach after reading Seb Gorka’s Twitter feed, linked to in yesterday’s post.
Does anyone else have PTSD from that? I just can’t that these are how public figures conduct themselves in our country now.
“sage the White House and start from scratch.”
Ahh-ah aims, Thanks you for my first morning chuckle. The other commenters are probably right. It wouldn’t be enough to run all the evil spirits out. Cleanse by fire might be the only way. What’s that infamous quote? “We had to destroy the village in order to save it.” I think that applies best here.
Trump is going to walk away from all of this. I just have no belief in the system anymore. He’s going to say it was all Manafort and the republicans are going to rally around him. Manafort will fall on the sword, his family will be provided for and Trump will trumpet about how the swamp came for him and they lost and he won. Sad!
I think Trump will walk away too. Everyone falls on their sword for the guy on top. But as long as he is prevented from serving his full term, that’s good enough for me.
It is entirely possible that Trump is not charged with anything related to Russian collusion. But I don’t rule out financial charges. But if that happens it won’t happen for some time.
I think Mueller will succeed in exposing Trump’s illegal, unethical, and otherwise inappropriate biz deals, but, I am not convinced he will be removed from office, jailed, or otherwise punished.
Financial ruin works for me.
Financial ruin is a guarantee. Trump could get away with being shady on his old low key level. Say he’s the best as his own hype man and reality star. Now he’s out of his league. Playing by the old set of rules. Outmatched on every level. Not smart enough to even realize the game is not the same. I do not believe he was wise enough to cover his tracks well. And I’m certain after his presidency his business ventures will all crumble. His building will lose value by association. He’s going to be ruined. It will be deserved.
I don’t know. In the Manafort documents, it was saying that money from “Company A” would get transferred to “Company B” through Manafort. If those companies are banks in Cyprus to Trump Organization, that could have serious consequences for Trump.
Additionally, the documents about Papadopoulous’s arrest say that while working as foreign policy advisor for the campaign, he working as a go between for the Russian government and the Trump campaign. Oh, and he lied to the FBI about it. This seems overwhelmingly damning for the Trump administration and his family’s companies.
I agree. The GOP would look stupid, almost like admitting failure if they got him impeached. Don’t think it will happen. Crazy days.
Trump will have a hard sell that it was only Manafort. Others are also indicted today and more will come. Lying to the FBI is a crime and can get you prison time, just ask Martha Stewart. And her lie was a tiny one in comparison.
And the fact that all the Trump people have specifically lied about their Russian contacts, even under oath, is damning. Talking to Russians is not a crime and can be quite innocent. Talking about issues like lifting sanctions can be quite innocent, obviously that’s a topic of interest to Russians and Trump was always open about wanting to lift them. Lying about the contacts, though, tells us immediately that they are hiding something illegal. The timing of their contacts is also suspicious because “stuff happened” soon after.
Trump may squirm out of this himself if he was smarter than we think, although he’s been money laundering for years so he might have more to worry about from the state investigators in New York especially. But I doubt that Trump can count on loyalty even from Jared, he doesn’t give that kind of loyalty to get it back. Jared will be concerned about staying out of prison or minimizing his time there, not pleasing his father-in-law. They all are quite capable of tossing each other under the bus.
Hate to say it, but I kind of agree.
@HTCMN, @ Original TC, plus it’s being suggested that Trump might pardon him if he falls on his sward. Let’s hope for financial ruin as @Holly Hobby says. That might actually matter more to these crooks.
Cranberry, pardons only work for Federal charges. If they committed financial crimes, those could be state charges. President can’t pardon state charges.
Additionally, if you accept a pardon, you no longer have the ability to plead the 5th, so they’d have to talk under oath.
But Manafort is facing 80 years in jail. Mueller is a top prosecutor and all the legal analysts have been writing how sharp his moves have been (keeping the Papadopoulos arrest locked up until today and using the PR fallout to warn more Trump camp people to cooperate or else). Manafort is a weak link for Trump and is probably tapped/wired to the nth degree. Trump is so impulsive he’ll probably call Manafort at some stage to urge him against incriminating him, and end up incriminating himself. The perils of zero self-control. So Manafort might not need to fold.
Daily Mail had early pics and video of the surrender. So i mistakenly went to the comments section, and it was just pro-trump people gloating how dems are stupid and Trump was clean and cleared because only these two were implicated. What? My head hurts, but I fear they will never admit any wrong doings even if Trump is ever implicated or charged.
Those commenters are most like bots or Russian trolls.
You have to remeber that trump ran as a Republican because they were stupid. Even if Snopes disproves his saying that, I agree with the statement.
Yes, I noticed a lot of Russian troll/bot comments on both WaPo and NYT, too.
“Podesta! Uranium! Clinton!”
Trumps loyalty is to himself. His allegiance to whomever is most useful atm. He did not make that quote, but I bet he’s said something close to it.
@Jerusha: your comment reminded me of this.
Did anyone else see Bill Maher this past Friday night? Woody Harrelson was on and told a story about having to go to some dinner with Trump back in 2004 when he was planning to run as a DEMOCRAT.
His supporters are too stupid to care.
@Eliza, Never, repeat, Never go to DM comments on Dumpf articles…..It shows a sad side of humanity! They are rep animals…terrible. But of course, I never look! 😉
It’s a matter of time. And I am fukng giddy.
It really does bother me that he was allowed to get up, shower, dress, have a cup of coffee and then drive to turn inself in for serious federal charges. It really bother’s me.
@Tiffany
It bothers me to. On so many levels. But we knew it would go something like that. They always get the “dignified” handling of a criminal. Where Trump is okay with telling the police to rough up others as they are taken into police custody.
“Bother’s” really bothers me.
@The801. Good because I ain’t here for you.
For the most part, grammar police are ignored here. A rogue apostrophe isn’t even worth a comment, much less an admonishment. Good answer, Tiffany!
It was probably auto-correct. Why was this necessary? I read something recently that really opened my eyes, about correcting people’s grammar on the internet.
1. It tells them that you care more about abstract rules than the content of what they’re saying. 2. It establishes a power dynamic where you become the expert and they the remedial student. 3. “Proper” language and grammar are almost always heavily tied to race, class, ability, and privilege. 4. It detrails what could have been a deep and fruitful conversation. 5. Public corrections often elicit shame whether you intend to do so or not.
You can almost always understand what the person meant regardless, or you could ask questions. Ever since I read all of these points, I’ve tried to stop worrying so much about internet grammar myself.
@Shambles the tyranny of auto correct must end. It is so frustrating because people of a certain generation have an unconscious bias against incorrect grammar.
Also, I think @the801 was joking.
@Shambles
I agree with what you wrote.
I am guilty of typos galore but usually, it is autocorrect or an attempt to edit, or I rush and change direction mid-sentence or a child emergency.
Some people are dyslexic or don’t speak English as a first language or many other possibilities that are impossible to know, so it needs to be retired.
No one comes here for English lessons or unsolicited grammar advice. I never liked it for the very reasons you explained Shambles. Your post should be a sticky.
I know proper grammar, but life happens.
If you want to attack the spelling or grammar of a poster… I encourage you to follow me thread to thread. I’m FLORC. Type that into the “find in page” field and buckle up. Some constants… thst vs that. Bot vs but vs bit. And vs amd… And if you want to toss in apostrophes… ownership… Lol..
I’m not even going to justify it by stating English isn’t my 1st language. It’s not even my 2nd. I’m just too lazy or don’t bother to correct it. Because I assume everyone is intelligent enough to know what was meant or will ask for clarifications if needed. That no one will go low to mock. Because if that offends… my dude. You must be knew to thumb typing and the internet.
(knew vs new) I’m not correcting it out of protest
Are you kidding me? This is NOT a day to nitpick typos. 🙄
Tiffany: ignore this jerk.
Get used to “bother’s” and it’s ilk because autocorrect on my phone at least repeatedly inserts apostrophes like that. There is also a time lag before it makes the change, so it’s easy to hit send before you notice it.
The peculiar thing is that the words it changes by adding apostrophes are perfectly fine words like bothers, well, its. I typed “its” and autocorrect changed it to “it’s” in both the last sentence and this sentence: I had to change it back both times. Why autocorrect thinks “well” should be “we’ll” is also shrouded in mystery.
Really, it’s not worth being grammar/spelling police these days. Between baffling autocorrect and tiny phone screens and keyboards and sites/connections that go wonky (either prematurely posting or slowing down so much that editing is not worth the bother) – I lost my own spellcheck queen title long ago. Pay attention to content and don’t worry about grammar and spelling in forums like this unless the result is actually confusing. Other things will bring on the Apocalypse, not online typos.
CB friends, I correct grammar errors for a living, and I am not about to do it here. I enjoy the posts too much.
I turned off autocorrect long ago. It was very irritating. My errors occur when I’m typing on my phone w/o my reading glasses. Just noticed I left off an m in an earlier post.
This comment is the equivalent of serious BUT HER EMAILS commenters.
I am going to take a guess that this was a part of a deal. As in: the more information he gives the investigation on other, bigger fish, the more little allowances like this he will receive from them.
@SK. I hope you are right. I want Rome to burn.
For sure… I suspect the way it was done was for cooperation. And news crews
White collar criminals are usually allowed the respect and dignity afforded Manafort. The rest of society gets the shit beat out of them and thrown in the back of the squad car (assuming they aren’t shot first).
So long as we get them all prosecuted and convicted, I don’t care if they’re allowed to show up in a ball gown on a parade float throwing candy!
This country is so insanely biased when it comes to white collar crime. Conspiracy against the USA: shower, shave and show up in a three-piece suit. Black kid holding a BB gun: shoot him dead.
So true. And if and when this sack of shite gets convicted, he’ll be send off to a nice country club farm where he can walk around in slippers all day, daytrading on his gov’t supplied laptop.
@elle – there are definitely two kinds of justices in this country, but if he’s convicted, he’s in a federal prison.
Tiffany, over the weekend it was explained by several prosecutors that Grand Jury indictments are usually always handled this way. The FBI will only come and haul you in if you don’t appear by the stated day and time, which is usually a day or two after you’ve been informed of your indictment. The exception to this courtesy is if they believe you are a flight risk.
And when they searched his house in July, they didn’t “knock & announce” until they were at the bedroom door and had gone through the rest of the house
Yes, and they came while he was sleeping!
I think they’re all flight risks… Actually, passports were taken away earlier. And they seem to be on house arrest with daily reporting, which supposedly is unusually tough for such people. The no-knock warrant on Manafort suggests the Feds are not in a kindly trusting mood with this crew. Wonder if he has an electronic bracelet?
I’m surprised they all didn’t scoot away to parts unknown a while back while they still could. Maybe they’re afraid of having assets frozen, although the big guys must have loads stashed away offshore in safe places. Or maybe they didn’t really believe the Feds would be able to do anything to them.
Just waiting for the day Trump tells a driver to detour to the airport, gets on a flight to Dubai, waves away the Secret Service with a “thanks for all the fish”.
I think they should handle this in whatever way gets the job done. Both sticks and carrots are needed sometimes, you know?
I noticed that. Had this been a “poor” criminal, they’d take the out of their house naked if they had to. I don’t like it. It defeats the point.
Well, he’s charged, not convicted. And sometimes even convictions are incorrect.
It’s been estimated that at least half the people in county jails waiting for trial (because they can’t afford bail) will actually be acquitted. So I would rather their months wrongly held in jail at least be not too unpleasant.
So I’m all for kindly treatment of people who may or may not be criminals. Even slugs like Paul Manafort or Donald Trump. We only need to protect ourselves against people who do harm. We don’t have to be vicious about it.
They’re treating him nicely now because they need him to cooperate to wiring a wire. it’s strategic. Reading a bunch of articles complimenting Mueller on his moves.
YES. *grabs popcorn* *grabs wine*
I’m ready!
Wait for me! I’ll bring some canapés for us to munch on with the wine
Happy Birthday to me! One of my wishes came true! Now, as for the *rest* of them…..
Perfect. The veranda is open.
We haven’t had a good party since our daily Hiddleswift gatherings
I can bring perogies. My best ones are a wild mushroom, onion and potato, caramelized onion and garlic and spinach. We need something substantial to keep up our strength as this goes forward and we partake in wine and spirits.
Dare I love this too much? I am afraid of having my hopes dashed as it has been this past year over and over again.
The Manafort news is covering up the guilty plea from George Papadopoulos for lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia during the campaign. This is a much stronger connection to Trump.
Its one of many many indictments to come. Once these wusses start singing you’ll see this accelerate
Imqrious2, happy birthday!
magnoliarose, I think you’ve talked about those pirogues before, and omg they sound amazing. Carbs are my life — I’ve been stress eating bowls of pasta for breakfast for the past couple weeks — so these would be a nice change.
Not sure if I’m in full on celebration mode yet but cheers to all.
Mueller is doing the Lord’s work..
Amen!
Grab your popcorn. Someone is going to start to sing……..!!
…start? He’s already got a deal going.
Haaahaaaa. 10am be damned, I just did a shot of Jameson and danced the cabbage patch in the kitchen.
I’d follow, but I had too much whiskey during the World Series last night.
If I weren’t so depressed this would be the happiest day of my life.
And usual the press is misleading. They keep saying that the indictments have nothing to do with Russia or the Dotard campaign, but Ari Melber highlighted that some of the transactions listed in the indictment are Manafort’s interactions with the Russian lawyer who met with Jared and Donald Jr and it also mentioned involvement with Ukraine(The Dotard administration changed it’s stance on Ukraine in exchange for help from Russia). The indictments also mention Seychelles and Cypress, which is one of the deals that Betsy Devos’ bother was working on with the Russians. Rachel Maddow did a lot of segments about the Seychelles meeting, something about it being a back channel to communicate with Russia. While the indictments don’t directly state “Russia”, if you have been following the research that Rachel has been doing, it’s obvious that many of the transactions mentioned in the indictments had to do with Russia. I wish the press would be careful in their reporting. They need to stop trying to appease the Dotard. It’s false when they say that the indictments don’t have anything to do with Russia.
Definitely the reversal on support for Ukraine in the Republican platform was all due to Trump’s people. They really pushed for that and no other changes. That should have raised a lot of questions right there since it was rather an un-Republican stance to take.
Exactly. Smells veeeery fishy.
Who’s next?! Pass me the popcorn please
Trump aide George Papadopoulos just plead guilty to lying to the FBI. This is the beginning of justice. I remain hopeful.
This is significant… larger and more immediately significant than Manafort’s indictment. It shows that Trump’s claims of non-collusion are lies. As Mueller’s team puts on squeeze on lower-level people in Trump’s camp, it will lead to more confessions.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/live-blog/manafort-indictment-trump-russia/?lpup=16089277#livepress-update-16089277
Oh, and Mr. P is in the dossier… also, he met with Putin’s niece on at least one occasion.
Yes, and Papadopoulos had no experience before he was put on the Foreign Policy team. I’ve read about the March 31 meeting at Trump Hotel DC, and there is photographic evidence of Papadopolous there at that meeting. It seems on March 24th, Pap was offered to be intermediary between Russia and Trump campaign. On March 31st meeting, the campaign agreed to change the GOP platform at the convention to remove language about military support for Ukraine.
Yeah, that snap from the 3/31/16 meeting where Mr P says they discussed Russian meetings is gold for Mueller. It’s been circulating on Twitter today.
https://twitter.com/noladt/status/925074596306542592
Bonus points for proof that Sessions was in on it.
I LOVE A GOOD SCANDAL. And I am not talking about the TV series (which I think is a bunch of crap btw). This is so juicy and I eating it.
Popcorn ready to pop.
I think Scandal is crap too. lol
It’s so overrated with it’s over sensational plot twists and soap opera sexual interludes. It tries to inject intrigue by having a psychopath character working for the good side, but they are totally ripping off Dexter and doing a less than mediocre job of it at that. Pathetic.
It got a bit outrageous.
Flynn next?
Someone get Mr. Flich. Hang him by his toes in the dungeon. Get Dolores Umbridge and her evil quill. Make him carve “I must not conspire against the US” into his own hand.
Lol. The WH is already trying to distance themselves from Manafort, at the same time claiming that this has “nothing to do with any relationship to Russia.” In the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in our election. Sure.
PS: Thanks for your tireless political coverage, Kaiser. We know this isn’t the job you signed up for.
@Shambles: ditto to your comment to Kaiser! She does better reporting on all this than any political journalist out there. And decidedly did *not* sign up for it!
Yes, a heartfelt thank you to Kaiser from Berlin also. You make it easier for non-Americans to understand what is going on. Please carry on until the end, your work really is appreciated!
Ohhhh i hope this is just the beginning for your country to start to heal….but if Trump is impeached then you have Pence step up?? And isn’t he like super super straight laced…like isn’t the things he wants to do even worse than Trump??
The hope is that Pence is tangled enough in the Russia mess that he either can’t replace Trump due to outcry or he himself goes to jail. I have no doubt he knows something related to Flynn, but proving that will be quite the feat.
Manafort hand picked Pence for VP….shady much?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-offered-chris-christie-vice-president-role-before-mike-pence/
“Manafort had arranged for Trump to meet with his first choice for the job on July 13: Indiana Governor Mike Pence. Afterwards, the plans was for Trump and Pence to then fly back to New York together and a formal announcement would be made, a campaign source said of Manafort’s thinking.”
Pence is very easy to manipulate and not the brightest bulb on the tree. He’s in politics because the national Republicans put massive amounts of money into my district to get people like Pence in -so much that our wonderful Democratic Congressman who had won the votes of Democrats and Republicans alike for many years decided to retire early, he said it wasn’t worth the stress. There seemed to be a bit of gerrymandering going on also, they redrew our district lines for reasons I’ve never understood.
Pence isn’t very likeable. There is no way he would have won re-election here in Indiana. He can’t replace Trump for the diehard core. They want to be entertained and he can’t do that.
Trump has the major advantage of being on tv and known as a celebrity. That gives people the illusion that they know him personally. I never understood Trump’s appeal since he activated my creepy creepy creep “danger, danger, Will Robinson!” radar long ago. But people like to be entertained by nasty folk like Trump and mistake it for “telling it like it is”.
Thank you Jwoolman & Angelea.
It’s sad to see how much sheer corruption has been happening all around the country in so many voting districts. All these nasty Republicans and even Libertarians that have put all this into motion actually make the case for the need of a stronger central government that needs to control or at least closely monitor every state and county election and campaign dealings. What imbeciles.
Let”s hope this is the slippery slope that will bring down this rotten to the core administration, with a big fat, orange cherry sitting on top! Impeachment, a dish best served cold, with a large side of scadenfreude! Could it be possible that our national nightmare may soon be over?
I hope that he isn’t the only one. Bring them all down.
Listening for the sounds of Manafort squealing like pig…
Now watch how Trump & the alt-right try to distract everyone from the investigation:
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-distract-robert-mueller-explained-807999089c9e/
Bonzo!!! 🖐
Oh happy day
*waves to MI6*
Yes it is. However, I’m watching what Trump and the rest of the R’s do to try and divert attention from or shut down the investigation now that indictments are being handed down. What happens in the next weeks and months will be very significant. As long as R’s are united in trying to keep impeachment from happening, there’s little reason to expect a regime change.
I suspect that Manafort isn’t the only one who will be making a deal with Mueller and spilling the beans… Flynn may already be talking with what they have on him, among others whom they have criminal evidence on.
Agreed. But the rats will jump from a sinking ship and take any politically expedient route that will save their own sorry as*ses.
We shall see. More will be revealed….
Also… Trump has unfettered pardon powers. He may use it against those that are charged with crimes.
Do not believe that extends to federal charges of treason and espionage.
The only limit on the president’s pardoning power is that he cannot issue pardons for matters related to his potential impeachment, nor can he pardon state offenses. That being said, since Mueller’s investigation is looking at Trump’s potential ties to Russia, pardoning Manafort would be very alarming and be fraught with legal challenges as well as kick off potential impeachment proceedings, if enough R’s are willing to stand up to him.
R’s on the whole seem more afraid of his base than the core, establishment Republicans so far… Only a small number are willing to go against him and the few who have had paid a price.
Several lawyers wrote this op-ed about the significance of the three indictments announced today ( and why Trump should be worried ):
Manafort Indictment Is Bad News for Trump https://nyti.ms/2yY6Z3F
This is fascinating. I would not be at all surprised if Manafort’s family has been intentionally or unintentionally been implicated (signs point to yes) and he will flip for leniency granted to them, if not himself. The question is just how much information he’s willing to give up. My guess is a lot.
Manafort’s family may not be involved, but Mueller’s people are taking a hard look at Flynn’s son. That may be the path to getting Flynn flipped.
Apparently he put some real estate deals in his wife and daughter’s names. He’ll do some talking i’d imagine.
I wonder if Flynn has already flipped. He wasn’t on the list for today’s indictments, maybe that’s why. A few months ago, he unsuccessfully asked for immunity when they wanted him to testify to Congress. Haven’t really heard about him lately, which might mean he’s essentially under wraps if not fully in the witness protection program… 🙂 Or would that be the witless protection program?
For anyone who’s interested in the interpretation of the indictment, go to Renato Mariotti’s twitter feed: https://twitter.com/renato_mariotti/status/924991226008489984
He explains it very clearly what Mueller is charging. He also explains that the charges are pretty much provable (not treason but money charges).
I’ve been reading his Twitter since this whole crap has gone down and he’s very good about breaking everything down.
It’s great to be an American today! I put my faith in Mueller and he did not disappoint.
THANKS! That is very thorough and now I understand it better. Dude is in trouble. Bigly.
This is good but irritating Trump can still get away with saying these indictments have nothing to do with HIS Russian involvement or collusion. Trump can still play dumb and get away with it on Fox and elsewhere. Drip, drip, drip … eventually it all has to get to Trump but not for another long waiting period for justice.
All roads lead to Trump. They may not be able to lock him up for treason (harder to prove) but they will nail him for money laundering, tax evasion, etc. Those are far easier to prove!
Agree. I read the indictment document, and noticed references to failing to disclose foreign accounts/interests on tax forms. Yet there are “scores” of foreign money sources that paid core expenses for the defendants and/or their family members. Gonna be hard to weasel out of that, even if blaming every hired hand they can.
Anyone think the remaining cast of slum lord money launderers have similar patterns in their tax returns and how they have paid their expenses the past several years?
The rope is always a bigger circle before the noose is tightened. They are getting the lower level charges out first, before things escalate. Since their “lower level” includes the campaign manager, chairman of campaign and 2 other foreign policy advisers for the campaign, they are in pretty good shape. That is a high bar to be set for the lowest level.
Mantafort has been around for a long long long time. If he squeals, he has a lot of stories to tell. A lot.
Ive Long suspected that this investigation may well lead into a much broader, multi tiered mess than the trump election (as off as that sounds ). Just believe we are going to learn about corruption going way back and involving more than Trump. And I’m betting it crosses all along the political spectrum.
I’ve thought the same thing. This may not be where you’re going but I’ve wondered why Fox and Republicans in general have been so afraid to admit to the possibility of Trump’s Russian involvement. I think some of these entities benefited from Russia’s long time interest in American democracy in ways that we haven’t yet imagined.
I guess I’m speculating that, AND others as well including those on the leaning on the democrat side of the aisle. Putin’s hate for HRC tells me he had reason to want or expect something from her he didn’t get …..why or what I don’t know, I’m not saying I think HRC too is part of Russian collusion or payments, but someone close to her and or Bill ? Maybe. Could be
Nothing will shock me short of Mother Teresa being implicated.
Another day: I suspect the Russians, through Podesta’s Russian ties, wanted, from HRC, the sanction relief Trump promised and didn’t get it.
@ANOTHER DAY, maybe Putin is angry because she couldn’t be bought?
Considering the prosecuters that Mueller has on his team I’ve presumed that he’s going for a wider investigation. He’s following all the threads where they lead him, and that may take time.
Let the games begin. #impeachtheCheeto
Take them all down, Mueller.
This is actually bigger than what I expected he’d start with. There’s no way the main target in this whole investigation is Paul Manafort.
45 is panic tweeting now
…and I I love it 😎
fox “news” is so pathetic. How they’re allowed to blind a good chunk of the public with misdirection is beyond me.
I didn’t think Mueller would go this high up so soon, but I’m glad he did because now others in the WH (Javanka, Trump, Jr., etc) are gonna start singing because they know Mueller means business now. If not talk the WH will effectively be paralyzed. This is also gonna distract the orange one/Congress from any thoughts of tax reform which is alwayssssss appreciated. In short, today’s a good day 😊
Hopefully, he completely melts down and flees the country.
The fact that he started up so high is telling and not good for the others. I begin to think that this means this is all high level and it points to the inner circle. I think his tax plan is a no go now.
Fox is so dangerous. I must say, though, it was a joy to watch the clip of Kellyanne Conway on Fox & Friends this morning–she was clearly upset, though soldiering through the interview lying and pointing at Hillary. Noteworthy was how the Fox & Friends team looked at her with very stony gazes–not at all their cheery frat-boy and sorority girl selves–and even asked her some pointed questions. SAD!
Here is the indictment document: https://www.justice.gov/file/1007271/download
Excellent, thanks.
Hi VC! I posted this upthread, but note the references to how they allegedly failed to disclose their foreign income sources on tax returns AND paid specific primary expenses via funds floating in from such sources.
It’s tax evasion/money laundering that will solidly stick to a bunch of these folks, I think. No wonder a certain tweeter wants someone to DO SOMETHING and is deflecting so hard.
The chickens are finally coming home to roost in the 4Q of 2017. First Hollywood, now Washington.
Do coffee and popcorn go together?
coffee goes with everything….including more coffee
Princess Nagini demands you all stop it right now! It is her birthday! Look! Arabella wrote her a note thanking her for giving birth! That is so much more important!
Always count on Ivanka to try to distract by exploiting her kids.
I can’t wait until it is her turn. I may even go to DC to heckle the faker. When her dirt spills, it will be deeply satisfying and worthy of a parade. A lil birdie told me Crooked J is getting cozy with a lady friend and don’t be surprised if they divorce. He’s the one who may turn I bet anything he will if given a chance.
Kids are cute but shameless isn’t.
Gee, it didn’t occur to me to give my mom a gift on my birthday until I turned 21. (Mom was a tad surprised.)
Arabella is so advanced.
Apologies if this is a dumb question, but where can i read the indictment itself??
Here’s the indictment itself:
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000015f-6d73-d751-af7f-7f735cc70000
Hopefully this is the start of many dominos starting to fall. I don’t think Americans realize how dangerously close the country is to falling off the precipice of no return. A demagogue has been allowed to exploit the anxieties caused by cultural wars and class inequality to almost bring us to our knees. Just praying that it’s not too late.
How the Republic starts to fall
A popular podcaster offers lessons from ancient Roman history that help explain our turbulent present.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/10/30/how-the-republic-starts-to-fall/
The “he was a crook Long BEFORE I made him my Campaign Chair” will be Trump’s defense. Pretty Pretty poor defense.
Already tweeted that. From Trump’s Twitter account:
Donald J. TrumpVerified account @realDonaldTrump 1h1 hour ago
More
Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren’t Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????
Apparently Trump didn’t read the part “from in or about and between 2006 and 2017”.
Yes, while he was living in Trump Tower! Then why did you hire him, Donny?
I hope this is the start of a domino effect that will tear this playhouse down.
I think the dominos have been falling for weeks, just behind a curtain. They’re opening the curtain now.
Fingers crossed…
I’m not a legal expert so does this mean he will do hard time? Year’s in a maximum prison? That all associated with him including those in the white house will get theirs and also some prison time? Ha! Of course not, these people have money that I can only fantasize about and lawyers who will save them from what they deserve. Just get them out of power Lord! That’s all I want get them out from running our lives and running the government that runs our lives….get them out.
Funny, not funny is that even if he gets convicted, Trump keeps dropping hints that he’ll pardon all his loyal buddies.
Happy Mischief Night, all!
The best one EVER.
I’m not so sure about “hanged for treason”. A recent case I can think of is Robert Hansen who was puropsely “caught in the act” of espionage for the death penalty but what law enforcement really wanted was a bargaining chip so everything was spilled and they got all the intel they needed to assess the extent of the damage.
I don’t want to thread jack but the Papadopoulos guilty plea is HUGE. He admits that he met with Putin’s niece among other Russian officials and passed this info to Dump’s team while he was part of the Dump campaign. Admitted fact of collusion.
And this is only day one.
And the raid on Manafort’s house came the day after they got Papadopoulos
Really, LP? That’s significant.
Papadopoulos flipped and lead them to Manafort. It is never a coincidence when a house is raided the day after someone is arrested. And there is a photo of Dump and papa in a meeting, so he can’t claim that papa is someone he doesn’t know.
Mueller is a master.
EXCELLENT point.
I agree, the Papadopoulos arrest is huge. He’s very likely the link between the Russian gov’t and the Trump campaign.
From what I have read, Pap received a message from Russia on March 24th re: working with Trump campaign. On March 31st, there was a meeting at Trump DC hotel of foreign policy advisors. There is a photo of this meeting. Papadopolous was there. In that meeting, the campaign discussed Russian/US matters and Trump himself advocated to have the RNC platform changed to remove military support of the Ukraine. He said to the members of the meeting that he didn’t want to start WWIII.
Russia >>Papadopolous>>Trump Campaign>>Trump changes policy to favor Russia
The fact that Pap was arrested July 27th and it didn’t leak is pretty damn amazing. The timing of the announcement this morning was a deliberate ploy to put pressure on others in Trump’s orbit. It’s a warning.
So Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) has an exhaustive thread explaining the legal ramifications of these indictments and how they effect all the major players. If you’re like me who needs some of the legalese broken down to manageable bites. I highly recommend his thread.
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/924988111880417280
super helpful, thank you!
That tweet thread is very informative and interesting!
Please protect Mueller. He is not here for partisan b.s. Keep digging and make it stick!
So someone i knew who is all about Trump was telling me this weekend how the main stream media refuses to report that Mueller has found a bunch of Clinton ties to Russia. I obviously haven’t seen anything and I refuse to even look at the alt-right and fox sites, but has anyone else heard about this from legitimate sites? or is it just more spin to take the heat of trump?
There’s some truth to this claim. The DNC and Clinton campaign did purchase the Russian dossier on Trump after it was first commissioned and paid for by the Republican party itself. Trump is accusing Clinton and dems of also consorting with Russians against him and therefore fake news. The importance of Clinton’s connection to the dossier is being heavily weighted by the Republicans who are hoping to deflect a lot of attention from the indictments and Trumps connection with them.
What’s important to remember is the Russian dossier is not what Mueller is solely working from. Mueller is constructing his own investigation which could lead down several paths of criminal or unethical dealings with Russians by Trump and his campaign.
They didn’t buy the dossier but rather funded ongoing opposition research that was first funded by a conservative group. Normal political behavior and perfectly legal. The dossier was not a Russian product, it was developed by a US research company that hired a British expert.
The press just aren’t willing to do their job and they are really messing up the story on Manafort’s indictment. They keep reporting that Manafort’s indictment don’t have anything to do with Russia, but they are wrong. One reporter was brave enough to break down the Cypress connection, pointing out how Manafort was working with a Russian government official who is linked to Putin. The indictment doesn’t mention Russia directly, but it’s there. Why does the press suffer from amnesia? The Cypress and Seychelles are the big Russian connections.
Some seem in such a hurry to fill 24/7 air time that they don’t do basic homework. Anyone who reads the indictment can pick up on the ties to foreign income sources and deception on tax forms, which are likely easily proven charges.
This Sarah Sanders press briefing right now is amazing. She is such a liar. The press corps is really pushing her with great questions. She’s insisting that Manafort, Gates and Papadoupolos have nothing to do with the campaign. Watching her squirm is delicious!
I honestly think a lot of them are too dumb to see the approaching sh-tstorm. Good. Let them squirm. Let them think there’s hope they’ll get away. Maybe I’m being optimistic but I hope Mueller takes them all down and any Repubs who had a whiff or an inkling of what was happening. Just think about what the public already knows. How could all these people not have known a thing for years? I’m not so sure Ryan and others shouldn’t be investigated as well.
After reading Manafort’s indictment I didn’t see anything remotely connected to Russian meddling in our election, so I’m guessing the indictment is intended to get Manafort to flip? I have to admit to some disappointment. From what I recall Manafort worked with Trump only 4 months before getting fired. Hopefully Manafort’s got dirt on Trump and this is not all an elaborate fishing expedition (sleezy though Manafort may be).
Papadopoulos is looking more robust on the meddling front, IMO.
Some are saying that as long as Manafort is loyal to Trump that he will pardon him if he gets convicted. Nice deal.
There are many references to Russia in that indictment, it’s just not stated directly. Cypress(Russian government official who Manafort owed money to and has links to Putin), Seychelles(Betsy Devos’s brother had a deal in which he was trying to create a back channel to Russia), Ukraine(the WH and Dotard changed their stance in exchange for help from Russia), and the lawyer who Jared and Donald Jr met with. The problem is the press, some reporters and legal analyst are highlighting these connections to Russia, but many are being lazy and suffering from amnesia. We need more Joy’s and Rachel Maddows. They do their research.
There was also the charge of working with a foreign government and according to the legal analyst, that means Russia.
By the way, although Manafort resigned from the campaign back in August 2016 (leading to the infliction of Kellyanne Conway on us), Trump didn’t want to lose him and made it clear that he liked Manafort and wanted him to continue. I noticed Manafort in the background of Trump Tower photos later, so I suspected he never really left the campaign, just wasn’t public about it.
Gates continued to work for Trump and helped to organize the inauguration. Let’s remember he can talk, too.
Considering how the released JFK files confirms that Hoover was crooked AF, I don’t if I’d trust any FBI director (current or previous). If the FBI was lying about such serious things, I wonder what they’d be lying about now. But that’s just me.
oops – left out the word “know” in first sentence.
According to Carter Page, Paul Ryan is going to introduce some information to dispel the dossier. So now we know that Nunes and the GOP members like Chuck, Graham, and Gowdy are hijacking the Trump Russian investigation by Paul Ryan’s orders. Carter also accidentally revealed that he may be one of the people mentioned in George P’s statement. He said that the the press were calling him all day asking if he was the low level aide who was sent to Russia.
Have you heard if FCC allows a merger then “Trump News” will reach 79% of our LOCAL stations. I will literally never watch local TV news again if that happens. These people are scary. I can’t believe our democracy is as fragile as this. I hope all these Republicans go down in flames. Our future depends on it.
That’s about Sinclair broadcasting. Right wing but more subtle than Fox, very dangerous.
Frightening and very dangerous, indeed. This situation, unbelievable as it is in a democratic society, shows how insidiously propaganda can seep into every household disguised as real news. That’s how it must have happened in other countries … a slow degradation of the truth towards authoritarian rule. I used to wonder how people could be so blind as to believe the lies but when truth is twisted and lies are normalized it’s easier than it seems and eventually you’re like North Korea believing the dear leader. If I were CNN, I would not have used the apple/banana scenario but rather apple to pomegranate because the differences between fact and fiction are not always clear and lies are a labyrinth in this age of spin and fast-food information.
John K did an interview, confirming once again that he was and never will be the adult in the WH. The things that he said in that interview were horrible and disgusting. He praised Robert E Lee, said negative things about immigrants, continued to attack FW, the Civil War was caused by the inability to compromise, and depicted the Dotard as a victim because Mueller won’t end the Trump Russian investigation. John K is a WS. How did he manage to con the press this long? Just as I have been saying all along, John K is just as unstable and complicit as everyone else in that WH.
Did the WH and Dotard send out John K to do that disgusting interview to distract from the Manafort, Gates, and George coverage?
Bannon is calling for the Dotard to pursue more aggressive attacks against Mueller.
GOP members like Graham and Gowdy are saying that the Dotard should let Mueller do his job, but behind closed doors they are doing things to interfere in the Trump Russian investigation in the House and Senate. Graham and Chuck wrote a letter to the DOJ to tarnish Comey’s reputation and Gowdy and Nunes sent subpoenas to Sessions and Wray about the dossier. The GOP are hypocrites, they say one thing and do another. No one should believe anything that Graham says because he is one of the 4 GOP members trying to hijack the Trump Russian investigation.