Manafort on trial
Paul Manafort’s trial begins today.
As Liz Sheld writes:
Manafort is not on trial for anything related to treasonous RUSSIAN collusion, he is on trial for working for President Trump’s campaign and for being a sleazy political consultant, which is a crime every other person is guilty of inside the beltway. It also appears like Manafort is on trial for his luxurious lifestyle.
When Trump hired Manafort, it was already known that the guy was sleazy and had a past working in politics in Ukraine. But as Sheld points out, much of DC could be indicted if prosecutors had a mind to do so. Manafort’s big mistake—and I have little doubt he made many big ones—was to work for Trump and have foreign connections that had something or other to do with Russia (in his case, he helped the Russian-backed candidate win the election in Ukraine).
The idea was (and probably still is) to get Manafort to turn on Trump and give Mueller something that could be used to snare the bigger fish. But if the big fish evades them (for now), the littler fish will do. Manafort is a decidedly unsympathetic person who doesn’t seem to have all that many champions, and Mueller has two trials planned for him.
The other idea is to make it clear to all and sundry that prosecutors can get you if you help Trump or work for him. That’s been amply demonstrated, I think. Very few people are squeaky-clean enough to avoid prosecution if the legal powers-that-be have determined they need prosecuting, and Manafort certainly isn’t one of those squeaky-clean people.
[NOTE: This post was originally on my older blog and had comments, but unfortunately the comments didn’t transfer over here.]
I suspect Manafort is a slimly weasel in a trap more than willing to chew off his own leg to escape. Dershowitz is correct, Mueller is squeezing Manafort to hang something on djt. Trump, imo, is sleezey. So Mueller, dnc property, is looking for whatever sticks on the wall.
Yes, this is a terrible witch hunt. Too bad Sessions is not really a Trump ally / willing to fight the DOJ / FBI criminal Dems still there plus those that left.
Who can prosecute the prosecutors for abuse? It’s not too late for Trump / Sessions / DOJ to indict HR Clinton for her crimes, using the evidence Comey already talked about. Indict her, put her on trial — most likely convict her (she IS guilty guilty). Then start going after those who have obstructed justice / destroyed evidence / abused power.
We need more trials — but Trump is so busy getting the economy booming. Too bad he can’t / won’t / hasn’t asked Andrew McCarthy to join his team — or maybe Andy has already refused?
Redirect worked – maybe you should have a poll about which picture your readers like?
The judge doesn’t seem overly impressed by the show:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/08/01/mueller-prosecutors-rebuked-repeatedly-by-trial-judge-with-history-colorful-rulings.html
It has always felt to me that Mueller is approaching his investigation the way he would approach the investigation of a Organized Crime boss. You know the boss is guilty of something. Your job is to keep pressuring the lower downs till someone turn on the boss and gives you what you need. You know this will ultimately happen because he is an Organized Crime boss and so he is guilty of something. If a lower down individual refuses to turn, just go to the next. You do not take the fact that no one will turn on him as proof that he is innocent. The axiom is that he is guilty.
Is there any doubt that had Herr Müller lived during the time of his beloved Reich, he would have been pure SS Einsatzgruppen? He is gestapo right out of central casting and his career of gestapo techniques confirm it. I wonder how many Juden the Müllers killed?
Some things never change, they just move across the Atlantic.
“Show me the man and I will find you the crime” – attributed to Lavrentiy Beria, founder of the Soviet KGB