Manafort and Gates Charged

[Belsnickel]

The rug, having gone undercover to nail Manafort, celebrates with Mueller pic.twitter.com/dJFWwTPadP

— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) October 30, 2017

[StLucieBengal]

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/453244/manafort-indictment-no-signs-trump-russia-collusion?platform=hootsuite?platform=hootsuite

Mueller’s case, at least in part, seems shaky and overcharged.

[Belsnickel]

(10-30-2017, 05:18 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/453244/manafort-indictment-no-signs-trump-russia-collusion?platform=hootsuite?platform=hootsuite

Mueller’s case, at least in part, seems shaky and overcharged.

Interesting how the author declines to address the Papadopolous situation, which his editor seems to think changes the idea that this indictment has nothing to do tn.he the Trump/Russia collusion. We don't know how big a deal it will be, but it does change things up a bit.

[Bengalzona]

Not surprised about Manafort, but I am surprised at how early this came out. I suspect this will never go all the way to Trump, but I think there will be similar indictments for others down the pike.

[StLucieBengal]

(10-30-2017, 05:45 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: Interesting how the author declines to address the Papadopolous situation, which his editor seems to think changes the idea that this indictment has nothing to do tn.he the Trump/Russia collusion. We don't know how big a deal it will be, but it does change things up a bit.

The author is a former chief assistant US attorney. Andrew C McCarthy

[JustWinBaby]

What's interesting to me, is the Manafort indictment appears related to an investigation into him that started in 2012(?)...Was that Ukraine ledger the smoking gun, or does this indictment only happen because of an "unrelated" Special Investigator, and what would that mean with respect to due process and unreasonable search & seizure for Manafort's defense?

And what of Flynn? Maybe he already cut a deal, and so no need to indict him.

I'm not sure about this Papadopoulos character. We've not really heard anything about him until now. Does he actually know or have any evidence, or are they going to leverage him to smear Trump just to give the anti-Trumpers something to cling to?

[Belsnickel]

(10-30-2017, 06:08 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: Not surprised about Manafort, but I am surprised at how early this came out. I suspect this will never go all the way to Trump, but I think there will be similar indictments for others down the pike.

I'm not. From what I have seen, these particular indictments were a bit more time sensitive because of the statute of limitations on some of them.

(10-30-2017, 06:26 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: The author is a former chief assistant US attorney. Andrew C McCarthy

And?

[JustWinBaby]

(10-30-2017, 05:45 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: Interesting how the author declines to address the Papadopolous situation, which his editor seems to think changes the idea that this indictment has nothing to do tn.he the Trump/Russia collusion. We don't know how big a deal it will be, but it does change things up a bit.

Now this seems to be a textbook case of being an "agent of a foreign enemy".  Whether or not he ensnared anyone else in the campaign in his scheme remains to be seen (appears he WAS trying to).

I still find the irony kind of hilarious, in that the Hillary Campaign and DNC were essentially doing the same thing, but unlike the amateur hour of political un-savvy in the Trump campaign, they knew how to do it "legally" - I don't think it was a coincidence or luck that they employed a law firm to pay a research group who used a non-US citizen to be an intermediary with Russian sources (the only person with actual dirt on his hands there is Steele, and he's probably untouchable by US courts).

[JustWinBaby]

Also interesting that Papadoupolous said "the [Russians] have thousands of [Hillary] emails".

Is that what triggered the supposed joke Trump made in the debate? Were these DNC server emails, or from Hillary's server....not sure which, if not both, came from Wikileaks, but Asange swears he has "evidence" [still waiting] it didn't come from Russia. But it certainly seems possible Russia could have simply hacked Wikileaks.

[BmorePat87]

(10-30-2017, 03:16 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Where are you getting that?  I didn't see anything in the NYT article to suggest that.

Papadopoulos was told about thousands of emails in April and emailed Manafort between April and May about setting up a meeting  with Russian officials regarding, among other things, getting these emails. 

The public was made aware of the hack in June 

[JustWinBaby]

(10-30-2017, 07:29 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: The public was made aware of the hack in June 

It's not clear to me that those emails regarding "dirt on Clinton" definitively relate to the DNC hack.  

Doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things - clearly illegally obtained emails, from a foreign enemy, are a huge no-no.

[Belsnickel]

https://lawfareblog.com/robert-muellers-show-strength-quick-and-dirty-analysis

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

(10-30-2017, 08:11 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: https://lawfareblog.com/robert-muellers-show-strength-quick-and-dirty-analysis

I'm rather struck by the wording in this article.  Being a legal blog, they are well aware of how precise wording should be and, IMO, the wording in this article has a very heavy presumed guilty slant to it.  One thing is certain, the next few weeks will be interesting.

[NATI BENGALS]

Who is Manafort and Gates?

Ive been watching Fox News all day. The propaganda wing of the executive branch that spreads "real" news 24/7. I thought Hillary was the one being charged here... Wtf?

[Benton]

(10-30-2017, 11:25 PM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: Who is Manafort and Gates?

 

The soon-to-be Jeopardy answer to the clue "These two were pardoned in the final days of the Trump administration."

[GMDino]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/report-lewandowski-was-trump-official-papadopoulos-emailed-russia-trip

Quote:Report: Lewandowski Was Trump Official Papadopoulos Emailed About Russia Trip



Former Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was the “high-ranking campaign official” former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos emailed about arranging a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Washington Post reported late Monday.

“Have been receiving a lot of calls over the last month about Putin wanting to host him and the team when the time is right,” Papadopoulos wrote in April 2016 to a person identified only as “a high-ranking official of the Campaign” in court documentsunsealed Monday.

The Washington Post reported, citing previously described emails that Trump’s campaign handed over to congressional committees, that the campaign official in question was Lewandowski.

Papadopoulos was arrested in July and pleaded guilty in October to lying to the FBI. The case against him was unsealed Monday.

In May 2016, according to the court documents, Papadopoulos emailed Lewandowski again to say the “Russian government” had “relayed” to him “that they are interested in hosting Mr. Trump.”

Lewandowski in June 2016 referred Papadopoulos to “the campaign supervisor,” according to court filings, a person Yahoo News identified on Monday as Sam Clovis, who joined Trump’s campaign in August 2015 as a co-chair and policy adviser. Clovis, a non-scientist and open skeptic of climate change, is Trump’s pick to be the USDA’s chief scientist.

According to the court documents, Clovis in August 2016 told Papadopoulos that he “would encourage” him to meet with Russian officials.

“Another high-ranking campaign official” named in the court documents matches the description of Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chair who surrendered to the FBI on Monday.

According to court documents, Manafort forwarded Papadopoulos’ email suggesting that Trump travel to Russia to “another campaign official.”

In an addendum to the email, Manafort suggested that “someone low level,” rather than Trump himself, should travel to Russia “so as not to send any signal.” According to the Washington Post, the other campaign official Manafort sent the email to was Rick Gates, his business associate.

Manafort and Gates on Monday pleaded not guilty to 12 counts against them, including conspiracy to launder money, acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign principal, conspiracy against the U.S. and failure to file reports on foreign bank accounts.

[Dill]

(10-30-2017, 08:11 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: https://lawfareblog.com/robert-muellers-show-strength-quick-and-dirty-analysis

This bit is a rather interesting window into the administration:

Papadopoulos first became publicly affiliated with the Trump campaign in March 2016. That month, Trump faced significant pressure to announce foreign policy advisers after numerous Republican foreign policy and national security experts publicly vowed never to work for him. In response, Trump produced a list of names of purported experts, a list that included both Papadapoulos and Carter Page.

Trump appears to have been dredging the bottom of the barrel for foreign policy experts.  Page was on Chris Hayes last night. His previous interview was a disaster (he could not say whether he did or did not meet Kislyak at the R national convention), and this one was not better. He cannot say yes or no to a yes or no question, like "Were you ever on a campaign email chain in which Russia was discussed?"   He does still insist his name has been sullied by the implication he was either a willing go-between or played by the Russians, but he is suing some news outlet(s) to correct this.

[Dill]

(10-31-2017, 04:10 PM)GMDino Wrote: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/report-lewandowski-was-trump-official-papadopoulos-emailed-russia-trip

Clovis, a non-scientist and open skeptic of climate change, is Trump’s pick to be the USDA’s chief scientist.

How is that possible?

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

(10-31-2017, 07:06 PM)Dill Wrote: Clovis, a non-scientist and open skeptic of climate change, is Trump’s pick to be the USDA’s chief scientist.

How is that possible?

An even better question, how is this relevant to the thread?








Hint, it isn't.

[GMDino]

(10-31-2017, 10:42 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: An even better question, how is this relevant to the thread?








Hint, it isn't.

Just a little background flavor on the kind of person involved in Trump's campaign who then got picked for a position he is ill-suited to handle.

Quote:Lewandowski in June 2016 referred Papadopoulos to “the campaign supervisor,” according to court filings, a person Yahoo News identified on Monday as Sam Clovis, who joined Trump’s campaign in August 2015 as a co-chair and policy adviser. 

Oh, nice diversion from the story though Joe.