Mueller’s fishing expedition lands one and squeezes it
In no surprise whatsoever, that fish is none other than Paul Manafort (along with his former business associate, Rick Gates):
The charges all relate or derive from Manafort’s business activities that predate Manafort’s involvement with the Trump campaign (although various related deceptions are alleged to date). I don’t believe that Gates ever had any involvement with the Trump campaign to begin with.
The charges have nothing to do with collusion. As Andrew McCarthy anticipated this past August, they are evidently intended to put the squeeze on Manafort to provide evidence against principals in the Trump campaign.
In addition, there’s this:
A man described as a former foreign policy adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign has also now been revealed secretly to have pleaded guilty earlier this month to lying to the FBI about his outreach to Russian officials. The former foreign policy adviser is one George Papadopolous…He reportedly suggested that Trump meet with Russian leaders. I take it that his efforts were unsuccessful but that his guilty plea is indicative of cooperation with prosecutors.
So far, this seems to be about business irregularities that precede any involvement Manafort had with Trump, and lying to investigators. The hope does seem to be that Manafort will spill the beans on someone higher-up, if there are any beans to spill:
For present purposes, however, I am more interested in reports that business records, connected to Manafort’s taxes and foreign bank transactions, were the object of the raid ordered by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. That seems peculiar if the rationale for ordering a home search, rather than simply issuing a subpoena, was fear that Manafort would destroy evidence.
It makes perfect sense, though, if the prosecutor is playing hardball…
The special counsel is not limiting his inquiry to the Russia investigation that Congress has been pursuing; rather, Mueller intends to scorch the earth as necessary to make a case ”” any case ”” on Manafort, for purposes of squeezing him to become a cooperating witness against others, potentially including the president.
That was written by Andrew C. McCarthy in early August, 2017. McCarthy’s a smart man, as I’ve said many times before. And he has lots of prosecutorial experience. I believe he’s correct, and events subsequent to his writing that piece have borne his theory out.
It is incredibly unlikely Manafort would have have anything he could actually give Mueller on the campaign itself, and this is even granting for purposes of argument that there were actually something going on, which it is pretty obvious there wasn’t.
I suspect the Papadopolous stuff was released today precisely because the Manafort indictments have literally nothing to do with the collusion narrative. That literally no one has ever heard of this poor schmuck is pretty telling that Mueller really does have nothing and never did.
Also, if you go to NR, you will find that McCarthy has an essay up on the indictments against Mueller.
most liberals and progressive know very well that Hillary and Obama were the one colluding with Russia, but they hate Trump so much because Trump was born with a rich dad and Trump said bad things about illegal immigrants and terrorists that they have to make themselves believe that Trump was colluding with Russia to keep their pipe dream of getting Trump impeached
Robby Mook and Tony Podesta are next. They used the law firm as a cover story to pay Russia and Christopher Steele for fake stories about Trump.
Mueller has nothing on Trump and he never will.
Cornhead…
I think you are correct on that. Trump’s a lot of things… “dirty” doesn’t seem to be one of them. Unlike the Clinton’s and Obama’s & their syndicates.
it hasnt landed anything..
at BEST it thinks it hooked something..
1) this was before 2014
2) has nothing to do with trump or family
3) stems from evidence obtained illegally
4) dossier makes it nothing
on top of it, the president has power to just negate the whole thing by giving a pardon.. (which he wont).. .
there is no there there…
By the way, can you see how powerful being clean in a world that believes your dirty?
(by dirty i mean breaks the law, by clean i mean doesnt break the law (but IS aggressive in applicaiton of rules, which most people make up internal rules to not be that way – then not like people who play the rules hard))
If your dirty, you strive to be seen as clean
If your clean, you do what? nothing…
they will waste their time, resources, focus, and such to pin a tale on a nuttin… (and to be punny, end up putting the tail on the donkey)…
You can even be an honest person in a sea of bad..
because what others do is not your business
THIS is the power of not compromising morals when one doesnt have to
which is why the public HATES these wealthy that do… ie. it may be one thing to understand why a person who is starving cheats to get bread, but we dont like to understand a lifestyle of cheating, as we feel its a tool you employ not a way of living. but those who do it as a way of living, confound others as they cheat when they dont have to!!!
Why would people be angry at Harvey W?
Because at his financial position, his ability to travel, and the world full of willing weirdo’s… what he wanted or we presume he wanted is not about the SEX, that was always available…
let me clue you in on this that i learned from people i knew in the eulenspeigal society…
normal people who play act in deviancy, want the excitement of it, but generally not the reality of it. So a woman with a rape fantasy (and yes, there are those, and one in england got in trouble when they got caught in the play act and the police thought the kidnap was real!!). Or a man or woman with a sadistic play idea..
the truth is that few of these in the public sphere are REAL sadists… Whats the difference?
easy. its from the joke:
What does a REAL sadist say to a masochist that says hit me? NO!
ie. real sadists dont cater to the bottom.. and real bottoms dont get catered to because they are victims not play actors.
THIS is the deep thing we miss…
Harvey, IF he was plying real people trapped in such situations, was a person who was a real sadist and wanted to see the anguish, and the turn, and the defense dropping and the pain, and the suffering… and wanted it to be real.
which you can only get from a real victim..
not a play acting person having fun in a role..
You can apply the same thing to prosecutorial malfeasance, is he doing a great job, or is he using a great job to cover prosecutorial sadism? (my term for prosecutorial overeach and other such things. like the officer that tried to put me in prison by lying on evidence… such people have to be sadists on some level, even if their sadism is hiden in false righteousness!)
Mueller found nothing on Trump, but he found some ancient suspicious activities on Manafort, so Mueller is going to offer Manafort a deal to frame Trump, to make up some impeachable bulls**t to incriminate Trump in exchange for his freedom. F**k this whole system, this is system is so unjust and corrupted, and they are putting this whole scheme on display just to overturn an fair and square election. F**k DC if this is what is DC is about.
Manafort wasn’t even supposed to be on Trump’s team, he was bought on only because he is an expert on delegates and Ted Cruz/GOP were trying to steal delegates from Trump.
Mueller, Mueller, Bueller.
When is Trum going to find the guts to fire him and get somebody competent, like Trum Junior, to do the job. I told him so… but that’s what happens if you ignore certain advice.
Ivanka as FBi head, that would work too. Condi Rice had State after all.
It won’t control them, but at least you won’t have a traitor masquerading as a Hussein patriot or something. Just have the vice head do all the paperwork.
Dave Says:
October 30th, 2017 at 5:16 pm
Now you know how the Tea Party felt when the IRS nuked them with strategic weapons.
Electing one Hero King to clean out DC swamp?
Muahahahah, what the humanity is that.
If they decided to find someone from the outside to conduct the investigation as a way to uphold the integrity of it, why f**king pick a deep state rat who has been in the system for so many years and in fact was the ex boss of FBI and comey who is the centerpiece of the investigation. give me a f**king break, do they think Americans are stupid or what?
so what did you tea partier do to fight the swamp? why not back up trump to fight them now? where is rand paul, where is ted cruz, have they voiced at all about the unfairness of the system. Electing one hero king to clean out DC swamp because he was the only one at least had the gut to say he would do so. where is ron paul again?
why f**king pick a deep state rat who has been in the system for so many years and in fact was the ex boss of FBI and comey who is the centerpiece of the investigation
because they wanted to be sure that whoever they picked would go to the end and sacrifice even their own careers for the cause…
Dave, 3:27 pm — “most liberals and progressive know very well that Hillary and Obama were the one colluding with Russia, . . .”
I respectfully urge Dave, as well as all neo-denizens, to resist any urge to underestimate the extent to which “most liberals and progressives” are in denial about their Empress — less so the progressive faction, at least those who preferred Bernie Sanders and had to experience the Hillary establishment’s subterfuges that may well have denied Sanders the nomination.
Make that . . . Empress and Emperor.
A couple of side dishes with the fish:
http://thefederalist.com/2017/10/29/obamas-campaign-gave-972000-law-firm-funneled-money-fusion-gps/
(need I say more?)
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/453247/day-gets-more-interesting-tony-podesta-steps-down-his-lobbying-firm
by DAVID FRENCH October 30, 2017 2:25 PM @DAVIDAFRENCH The Paul Manafort indictment, released today, contained an easily-solved mystery. Who did Manafort work with in the United States to influence the American government? Here are paragraphs 20 through 22:
20. As part of the scheme, in February 2012, MANAFORT and GATES solicited two Washington, C., firms (Company A and Company B) to lobby in the United States on behalf of Yanukovych, the Party of Regions, and the Government of Ukraine. For instance, GATES wrote to Company A that it would be “representing the Government of Ukraine in [Washington,] DC.”
…
The indictment hit my inbox at 9:01 a.m. Eastern time. At 1:02 p.m. Politico reported this:
“Democratic power lobbyist Tony Podesta, founder of the Podesta Group, is stepping down from the firm that bears his name after coming under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller . . . Podesta’s decision to leave the firm came on the same day that former Donald Trump campaign aides Paul Manafort and Rick Gates were indicted on multiple charges, ..”
…
If the indictment’s allegations are true, it’s an important reminder that during much of his work on behalf of the Russian-backed Ukrainian government Paul Manafort was hoping to influence Democratic leaders. Barack Obama was president, not Donald Trump. Thus it made sense that he’d work with a powerhouse Democratic lobbying firm. Let’s not forget that Tony Podesta’s brother John served as Bill Clinton’s chief of staff and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman.
* * *
We haven’t forgotten the Podesta Clan, even if NPR and the rest of the MSM are doing their best to ignore the connection.
As far as I am concerned this whole business just increases my disgust and distrust of the justice system.
Once you attract its interest your life is going to become miserable, whether you actually did anything to deserve that or not. Your career will likely be ruined, and your finances left in shambles. A prime example is Scooter Libby.
Once a Special Inquisitor has been appointed, no one is immune from harassment. Regardless of how narrow the initial mandate, it is certain that it will grow, and grow, and grow. Once the hunt begins, no one is safe. (To be honest, the Clinton apologists can point to Ken Starr as an example.)
Reading about the massive FBI raid on Manafort’s home, designed to terrorize not only him, but his wife as well; I had a flashback to the Elian Gonzales raid. The optics in my mind are akin to those expected in a Third World Despot ruled country. Obviously, some people should never have license to use the power of the state over others.
I have no idea whether Manafort, and the others, deserve the treatment they are experiencing. I do know that their activities have nothing to do with Mueller’s mandate; and suspect that they were known, and ignored, long before these people were identified with Trump. I will not be surprised if the charges lead to nothing more than draining their bank accounts, and ruining their reputations.
I know one other thing. If the FBI ever approaches me, I will say nothing what so ever. I would not give them the time of day, because they might claim that I was off by a few seconds, and therefore lied to them.
Neo:
I judge that a lot of your readers are viscerally displeased with what Mueller has done. Count me among their number.
We Live Under the RUle of Law right. Obey the Police or else you won’t be protected.
Heh. I thought older people were supposed to be wise. But it looks like they were more gullible and fell for more cons than the youngins.
Try harder Trum. At this rate, you, your family, and your supporters won’t even make it out of DC alive.
Dave Says:
October 30th, 2017 at 5:30 pm
so what did you tea partier do to fight the swamp? why not back up trump to fight them now?
Did you hear that, all you betrayed REpublicans that were in the Tea Party.
Why aren’t you backing up Trum to fight them now, are you AWOL or something?
Try harder.