How bad does it get when your former campaign manager is convicted of a ton of crimes, admits to others, agrees to cooperate, and then lies to the people he is cooperating with? Now what is it Paul Manafort has been told that has made him decide to lie about his prior activities with people he was involved in?
Obviously, Manafort is not the type of guy who is going to risk going to prison if he can avoid it. You do recall that after he was charged and put on home confinement with a leg bracelet the prosecutors had that status revoked because he was trying to reach witnesses against him and attempting to influence their testimony. The prosecutors produced sufficient evidence for the court to lock him up to protect the integrity of the justice system. In prison the judge believed he could not reach out and intimidate or try to convince people it would be in their interest not to tell the truth.
Manafort and Trump go back a long time. They have a good connection through one guy whose name is Putin. Manafort as you may recall was working on behalf of Putin when he was working with former Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovich who wanted to bring Ukraine under Russia (Putin’s) control which resulted in the Euromaiden uprising by the Ukrainian people who chased Yanukovich back to his Russian protector where he still remains. You might also recall that Yanukovich was funneling millions of dollars of the Ukrainian people’s’ funds to Manafort.
After he failed in his attempt to deprive the Ukrainian people of their freedom, by the way he was not the only American involved in doing this nor was it just Republican party types involvement but included Democrats with high influence, the next thing we know is he’s working for Trump. How is it so many prominent Americas sell out others for a buck; and how is it that Manafort ended up running Trump’s campaign.
It didn’t take us long to smell the foul trail that led from Putin to Trump. Manafort was in charge of the Trump campaign because Putin sought that. How best to ensure Trump remained under his control than to have Manafort as the manager of the campaign. He didn’t last that long because the American media was not as dumb as Putin or Trump thought it to be. Having smelled it out it forced him out of the campaign manager spot but he stayed in close touch with the campaign through his underling Rick Gates, another convicted criminal.
Is it any wonder Trump attacks the free press? If only it would take commands from him things like this would not have happened. Isn’t it best the people not know what is really happening and only believe the big lies Trump spells out.
Manafort agreed to ‘fess up to his crimes but figured he could con the prosecutors like he had conned people throughout his life. He wasn’t about to start on a twenty year plus journey through the Bureau of Prison system so by feigning a desire to cooperate he had brought his maximum time down to less than five years. Unfortunately, he didn’t know that the prosecutors knew a lot more about his activities than he thought and they were looking to confirm them through his words. He chose instead to lie. He must have known this would put him back on that twenty year trip if things were on the level. But he also must know that he has a way to avoid that trip which leaves us with the question about how is he going to do that.
Now I don’t want to hear Manafort is not a criminal or the Special Counsel should not have investigated him. A jury has found he is a criminal and he has also admitted to other criminal acts. The Special Counsel was found to be acting pursuant to his mandate in ferreting out these crimes by more than one judge. So lets please deal with the reality that we have a criminal facing over 20 years in prison who expects by lying he won’t have to serve that time.
He has two ways out. Both ways will be through the auspices of Trump. The first will be a pardon. Trump has already told us he believes Manafort is a good guy. We also know he believes Muhammed bin Salman and Kim Jung Un are good guys and those EU leaders are bad. So a pardon is not out of the question but if Trump can do something through an intermediary he’d prefer to do that.
The second and most likely way will be through his puppet Attorney General Matthew Whitaker. He may step into the case and cause it to be dismissed or require Special Counsel to recommend some type of street sentence. At this point we do not know how subservient he will be to the wishes of Trump. We do know he has been paid well by secret Republican operatives to be a mouthpiece for them. So there may be little downside for Whitaker to take a dive for Trump. And, Trump will tell us he knows nothing about it.
It won’t be a mystery for long because Manafort will not do any heavy time having already having had a taste of it.
Rush to defend the new czar Putin. I’m sure all these people, (putin, the Trump Tower lunchees, Manafort etc,) all registered as agents of a foreign government as is required by law.
Five floors below his home and Trump Knew nothing about the meeting with his son, son-in-law et al. Sounds reasonable to the Trump apologists.
Wait til people start filling out their ’18 taxes and discover the disappearance of the child and personal deductions. How else to pay for the cuts for the wealthy? These disallowances will just about plunge the remaining few of the middle class to poverty status. The Man who wants to help American Families. No sucker like an American sucker.
Flynn was the victim of a crime. Obama officials illegally leaked signals intel to the Post and then the corrupt FBI asked him about it. Trump should shut down Mueller and pardon all those he persecuted. His appointment was illegal. Russian collusion is not a crime and special counsels can’t investigate non crimes. Trump’s highest priority is public safety and he should do all in his power to avoid war with Russia that could escalate to a nuclear conflict and the deaths of hundreds of millions. 2. Lowest unemployment rate in history for Blacks, Latinos and women. Happy days are here again.
“Trump’s highest priority is public safety…..”
Obviously. That’s why he wants us to rake the forests.
“Lowest unemployment rate in history for Blacks….”
Ahh, I think you’re forgetting when they had 0% unemployment. You don’t remember the 1820’s?
NC:
Flynn was a victim of Greed. He did plead guilty, in case you forgot. I suppose you know better about the legality of special counsel appointments than the judges who have upheld Mueller’s appointment. In case you forget, Mueller is a Republican and a decorated war hero.
You are getting like Trump. He said he had nothing to do with Russia. Now he’s saying so what if he did there was nothing wrong with it while he was a candidate. You now admit there was collusion but have now said it isn’t a crime.
Trump’s highest policy and only policy is Trump. Of course we should avoid war with Russia and no one is calling for it. We should though impose severe sanctions on it to have it reconsider its desire to war on others. Unfortunately, at some point we may have to make a stand against it or would you prefer we just let Putin have what he wants.
The Obama administration handed Trump a booming economy which he has aided by his tax scams. It’s much too early to celebrate anything.
Maybe, at some point the author of this blog will give his thoughts on Mike Flynn. How does someone who was at one point considered one of the best Army Generals get to the point in his life where he is chanting, Lock her up at a political convention? How does someone in charge of paperwork quote unquote forget to register to lobby for the country of Turkey?How could Mike Flynn lie to the FBI about when he spoke with the Russians and think he could get away with it? Why just a 6 month sentence and why has that not happened yet?
Norwood:
The answer is Greed.
Wa-llahi! Manafort’s strings are being pulled in Moscow. He’s been ordered to either save Glorious Leader, or, go down with him. FSB has been disseminating disinformation purporting that Manafort had been meeting with Assange in the Ecuadoran Embassy. The British haven’t backed that claim up, which, is odd, since, they have the embassy under 24/7 surveillance.
Khalid:
You very well may be correct. It would not be beyond the FSB with its Guardian connections to have it publish an easily discreditable story which could then be used to undermine the idea that Manafort is a great crook. Trump has said he is a great man and who is there to contradict our Glorious Leader.
I think a two day period in the stocks would be a good first sentence for Manafort. I don’t know why we ever got rid of them. A couple of days with rotting veggies smeared on his face by little boys would serve a good purpose. A pail full of maggot ridden swill dumped on the head would probably be more of a deterrent than a year probation for most white-collar d-bags like him.
Honest:
Why did we ever get rid of the stocks? Seems a shame we did but I suppose those who advocated their discontinuance were the PC people of the day. I really don’t think Manafort is a candidate for them but I do believe they would be better used by having Trump spend a week in them.