Mueller probe gets big boost with Manafort plea deal…It appears from many reports for months Mueller has sought Manafort’s cooperation for a long time. With Rudy colluding with Manafort’s lawyers through a joint defense agreement, I always assumed Manafort would hold out waiting for a Trump pardon. But with this Manafort plea deal, it’s termed a cooperation agreement with Mueller, which reportedly Manafort is to testify fully & truthfully. Mueller must have had not just a ton of rock-solid evidence against Manafort, but also a lot of leverage. Family considerations for Manafort played into this, but maybe Mueller insinuated he does have so much evidence against Trump, there’s no way the prez can pardon anyone once he’s removed from office. So Manafort was persuaded to come clean & join the winning side of truth, plus this spares him another expensive trial & he’ll get a far more lenient sentence.
This is good news in helping prosecutors uncover the facts about Russiagate & corroborate with the testimonies from other witnesses, which we as the American people can also expect to someday learn the truth. In addition to telling special counsel whatever he knows, Manafort must also turn over documents & provide testimony when needed in front of a grand jury. For the good of the nation, we must find out all the facts of what happened between the Trump campaign & the Russians. From all these many plea deals & convictions, the Trump campaign looks like a veritable criminal enterprise, which the head kingpin must have also been part of, even directing it all: paul-manafort-becomes-
Today’s articles on Manafort flipping
For a perspective on this Manafort plea deal, we can always turn to Rubin for perspective, as seen here from trump-can-start-
President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort pleaded guilty Friday to two criminal charges under terms of a plea deal that includes his cooperation as a potential witness for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. The decision by Manafort to provide evidence in exchange for leniency on sentencing is a stunning development in the long-running probe into whether any Trump associates may have conspired with Russia to influence the 2016 election. Manafort’s defenders have long insisted that he would not cooperate with Mueller, and didn’t know any incriminating information against the president. Prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said at the beginning of Friday’s plea hearing that Manafort had agreed to cooperate with investigators.
That’s the news Trump never wanted to hear. The prospect of just such a deal is why his lawyers reportedly dangled the promise of a pardon in front of Manafort’s lawyers. A plea deal that could put the Russians inside Trump’s campaign blows to smithereens the notion that only low-level, non-players or those distantly related to the campaign had Russian connections. Trump, who was praising Manafort to the heavens just weeks ago, will find it hard (but not impossible) to now smear him as a liar. “The relentless Mueller push continues — as does that of the rule of law,” observes former White House ethics counsel Norman Eisen. “The reported cooperation agreement could be devastating to the president — and those around him. Manafort for example could implicate not only the president in the Trump Tower meeting — but also others who were involved such as Don Jr. or [Jared] Kushner. The same is true on the mysterious [RNC] platform change, and indeed on all the possible collision offenses.”
The plea certainly explodes Trump’s claim that Mueller is engaged in a “witch hunt.” The only “hoax” here is the pretense that there was nothing out of the ordinary going on inside the Trump campaign or that it was too disorganized to have spent time colluding with Russians. Trump also loses the argument that Mueller is wasting taxpayer money. As part of the plea deal, Manafort is going to cough up $46 million in forfeited assets, according to news reports. That more than pays for Mueller and his team (who at last glance had spent $20 million). Then again, it all depends how high a price you put on restoration of American democracy. Trump was already crashing in the polls and Mueller’s approval rising, in large part due to, in August, the trial and conviction of Manafort and the plea deal with Michael Cohen. The recording of Trump discussing a payoff with Cohen surely didn’t help his credibility.
What we will find out in the days and weeks ahead is just how much Manafort knows and how much he can tell us about what Trump knew regarding Russian interference on his behalf. For Republicans who have been carrying water for the president, it might be time to put down the buckets and run for their political lives. Frankly, voting for impeachment and removal might be a good option for Republicans at some point. Before we get there, however, there are the midterms, which are shaping up to be a wipeout for the GOP.
Big list of links
See more news here about this major breaking story. Exceeding my limits, these are live links since this is a monumental headline! Please use the weekend to stay informed & subscribe to WaPo if need be. One of these articles points out Mueller has snagged his golden goose:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/
http://time.com/5396596/paul-
https://www.businessinsider.
https://www.theatlantic.com/
https://www.theatlantic.com/
https://www.vox.com/2018/9/14/
http://nymag.com/daily/
http://nymag.com/daily/
https://investigaterussia.org/
Thought of impeachment becoming popular
It’s interesting the percentage of Americans is split down the middle when asked if Trump should be impeached. And that’s already, even before we find out what Mueller really has on him. It’s also before the public knew of the Manafort plea deal today. Trump’s reckless/chaotic/irrational leadership & declining approval numbers have softened the ground for him to be removed from office once proof of criminality is revealed. Catch these poll numbers: cnn-poll-gap-between-
Money Trail
Not just the Manafort plea deal, but Michael Cohen is also talking with Mueller: michael-cohen-mueller
Federal investigators are reportedly looking into a pair of suspicious money transfers from some of the planners and participants in a 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump campaign officials and a Kremlin-connected lawyer who promised “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. BuzzFeed News reported on Wednesday that secret documents it evaluated show that a complex web of financial transactions may play a role in special counsel Robert Mueller‘s investigation into Russia’s election interference. They involve money from Russia and Switzerland being moved to places such as the British Virgin Islands, Bangkok and New Jersey, according to BuzzFeed. Four federal law enforcement officers told the news outlet that investigators are specifically looking into two bursts of transactions that bank examiners found suspicious. One of the bursts occurred 11 days after the Trump Tower meeting in June 2016, while the other happened right after President Trump’s election.
Treason?
As far as the potential for treason & based on Trump always coddling up to Putin, the question remains what does Putin have on Trump?: not-even-republicans-
Trump has, by now, declared that virtually all those who have criticized him are guilty of the capital crime of treason. The group has just been expanded to include not just all Democrats, all journalists and several Republicans, but also some members of his own administration. “This is treason,” Trump informed his then-economic adviser, Gary Cohn, when Cohn attempted to resign after Trump’s nice words for neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, according to Woodward’s book. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, likewise, was pronounced a “traitor” by Trump for recusing himself from the Russia investigation.
Two Benedict Arnolds in one young administration? Make that three. “TREASON?” Trump asked via Twitter after an unnamed administration official criticized him in a New York Times op-ed last week. “Is it subversion? Is it treason?” he asked the next day. He answered his own question on Fox News: “Virtually, you know, it’s treason.” Trump regarded a personal embarrassment as a national security threat.
Woodward has left us with so many troubling images of Trump — incompetence, erratic behavior, ignoring advice — that it is a close competition to determine the most worrisome. I nominate Trump’s Louis XIV-style belief that he is the state, that his self-interest and the national interest are the same. News he doesn’t like is “fake.” Actions he doesn’t like are “illegal.” People he doesn’t like are “traitors.” Trump says the famed journalist and author should be disbelieved because “I don’t talk the way I am quoted.” But Woodward’s Trump sounds exactly like the Trump we hear daily.
Will #MeToo movement finally catch up to Trump?
We may be seeing that starting to happen, but it would probably be part of a wave where the weight of numerous scandals & criminal activities take Trump down. Trumpeters will be livid when the end comes, but once they calm down, hopefully for many they’ll see it is what’s best for the country. The prez on a daily basis proves he is unfit for office. I said over a year ago Trump will be forced to resign (or forcibly removed), but I just didn’t know the timeline. Believe me when I say we’re getting closer. Let’s hope he doesn’t do something really crazy knowing he’s not long for the office, especially with him being detached from reality & not particularly mentally stable to begin with. More on his sex scandals are posted here from whats-the-difference-
Change the defendant’s name from Trump to Moonves and the civil complaint filed by Summer Zervos against the president of the United Statesreads like one of the complaints that cost the president of CBS his job. “Mr. Trump immediately started kissing Ms. Zervos open mouthed, pulling her towards him,” the complaint says of the moments after a security man departed after meeting her at the entrance to the Beverly Hills Hotel and escorting her to Donald Trump’s room. The account of this encounter in late 2007 goes on, “Ms. Zervos walked away and sat on a chair, trying to make conversation, but Mr. Trump asked her to sit next to him on a love seat. Ms. Zervos complied. After Ms. Zervos sat next to him, Mr. Trump grabbed her shoulder, again kissing her very aggressively, and placed his hand on her breast.”
The complaint says Trump was not one just to take no for an answer. “He embraced her and she tried to push him away, shoving his chest away from her and telling him sternly ‘come on man, get real,’” the complaint asserts. “Mr. Trump repeated her words back to her lasciviously, drawing out the second word and saying, ‘get reeeeal,’ as he began to press his genitals against her, trying to kiss her again.” It continues, “Ms. Zervos again told him she was not interested, saying, ‘Dude, you’re tripping right now.’ Mr. Trump asked her what she wanted, and she replied that she had come for dinner. Mr. Trump then said, ‘Okay, we’ll have dinner.’” By this account, Trump “paced around the room and seemed angry” that she had not responded as he deemed his due.
Similar anger over not getting his way would be reported by a number of the dozen women who came forward to complain they had been sexually abused and harassed by Les Moonves. The denials offered by the two men in the face of multiple accusers have much the same ring. Both accuse the women not just of lying but of doing so with malevolent intent. Moonves said, “I can only surmise they are surfacing now for the first time, decades later, as part of a concerted effort by others to destroy my name, my reputation, and my career.” Trump said, “Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign, total fabrication.” One big difference is that the accusations have cost Moonves his job. Trump went on to stun even himself by winning the election.
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