Manafort Charges Include Conspiracy Against U.S., Money Laundering, False Statements
Will Manafort’s past catch up to him?
President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort has surrendered to authorities at the FBI field office in Washington, D.C., and indicted along with his former business associate Rick Gates on charges of money laundering and conspiracy against the United States.
*This post will be updated as more news is released.
Remember. Mueller was given permission to investigate anything he came across during his Russian investigation. We do not know yet if this has to do with Russian collusion with the Trump campaign or Manafort’s dealings before he joined the campaign.
The indictment does not mention Trump or any collusion with Russia during the campaign. The indictment includes 12 counts:
Conspiracy against the United States
Conspiracy to launder money
Unregistered agent of a foreign principal
False and misleading FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Unit) statements
False statements
Seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts
From The New York Times:
Mr. Gates is a longtime protégé and junior partner of Mr. Manafort. His name appears on documents linked to companies that Mr. Manafort’s firm set up in Cyprus to receive payments from politicians and businesspeople in Eastern Europe, records reviewed by The New York Times show.
Mr. Manafort had been under investigation for violations of federal tax law, money laundering and whether he appropriately disclosed his foreign lobbying.
Manafort leaves his home in Alexandria, Va.
(Photos: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters, Andrew Harnik/AP) pic.twitter.com/j3wAzXZud1
— Colin Campbell (@colincampbell) October 30, 2017
Manafort and his lawyer just walked through the front door of the FBI field office in DC pic.twitter.com/DAgYAgFBU6
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) October 30, 2017
Charges:
Just in from Special Counsel: pic.twitter.com/fn1EbvaJnX
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) October 30, 2017
Manafort-gates Indictment Filed and Redacted by Elliot on Scribd
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Comments
Manafort. I’m shocked!
Of course they will drag their feet about the charges being unrelated to the Presidential campaign.
Management guru Peter Drucker said that first-class people hire first-class people; second-class people hire third-class people…etc.
Maybe Peter Drucker is unfamiliar with Price’s Law.
No. Very likely Drucker knew Prices Law (which has nothing whatsoever to do with personnel) and understood it had no application.
Trump hired Manafort to help him sew up the nomination. He succeeded, and was then let go. Sounds to me like Trump chose the right guy for that particular job.
Who then hires the second-class people, darn it?
Unfortunately, we elect them.
Scapegoat is a tough profession.
If Manafort broke the law he should be punished, but what about all those other criminals laughing to our faces?
The “what about those other criminals” part is what piles up to the point of no return and a reckoning becomes inevitable.
Maybe I should have been a bit more specific.
What about Hillary Clinton et. al.?
What are you talking about? The butler did it! The End.
Time will shortly tell, but by including a business associate it appears that this is not at all related to the campaign (which won’t surprise a lot of people).
Immaterial. He worked on the Trump campaign therefore Impeach Trump!
If Mueller has Manafort and his business partner, I suspect this is not another Scooter Libby farce but something dealing with irregularities of his numerous foreign lobby efforts. It could even reach back to the scrap up regarding Manafort HUD lobby work. I have a desire for the charges to be related to the work that Manafort did for the Podesta Group in the Ukraine, and Manafort takes a deal to tell all.
Question: How does Manafort’s indictment effect the multiple investigations going on in the House & Senate? It seems to me that Manafort would not be within their reach as he would not be testifying until the Mueller charges are vacated.
As I read further the MSM Headlines should read: Fmr. Trump Campaign mgr. Indicted on charges stemming from activities related to the activities and time period he lobbied for the Ukraine for the Podesta Group. The Cyprus accounts were setup as a conduit for the Ukraine work Manafort was doing for the Podesta Group. It is also striking that wiki has scrubbed all links between Podesta and Manafort.
Politico reports this afternoon that Tony Podesta will step down from the influential Podesta Group lobbying shop after becoming a target of Robert Mueller’s investigation. The indictment itself suggests that Podesta may be in serious trouble:
https://hotair.com/archives/2017/10/30/manafort-indictment-podesta-group-mercury-next-fara/
Anyone id those unnamed companies A and B ( paragraphs 20-26)???
NBC, the bastion of truth wades right in..
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/sources-podesta-group-mercury-are-companies-b-indictment-n815721?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma
More unnamed sources.
Mueller was hired to investigate Russian influence in the 2016 election.
Manafort’s ‘money laundering’ accusation dates to 2012-2013.
Let’s see… carry the two… Four years from the point of supposed criminal activity, and five years from now.
Isn’t there a five year statute of limitations on money laundering accusations?
I suspect there will be a great deal of hot air blown about “…this suspicious activity was going on for many years before the investigation, but unfortunately can no longer be prosecuted (but we will blather on about it endlessly as if he were convicted of it).
Indictment about Cypress and Ukraine? Money Laundering from 2006-2015? Where is the collusion with Russia?
That’s it? Mueller? Really?
It would be a mistake to think this is the end of the matter. Mueller will use this UNRELATED case to squeeze Manafort into cooperating with him (i.e. lying about Trump to save himself).
If Manafort doesn’t agree, Mueller will prosecute him as hard as he can, as an example to the next guy. Mueller will then go find the next guy and repeat the process.
If Trump is smart, he should head this off by investigating Mueller. If Mueller is indicted/convicted/smeared then it’ll be very difficult for him to lead the witch hunt.
And BTW, I’m fairly sure Mueller is legitimately guilty of corruption in the Uranium One case.
With these listed charges against Manafort…why, he could easily be named a Clinton.
The absence of Clinton and Podesta on an indictment was the only thing that I was certain this morning. If I was a betting man, I would have wagered on the Manafort indictment. There are too many regulations and too much paper work and big money for I’s not to be dotted and T’s not to be crossed. Manafort has done so much lobbying work that one failure of disclosure caused his ousting from the Trump bandwagon.
I would think if Manafort’s lawyer was a particularly twisted individual, he would begin working a particular phrase into every one of the public releases he makes from now on.
“We would like to categorically deny any involvement with the Podesta group involving this set of charges.”
Say that a few hundred times over the MSM echo chamber, and…
I think most of this is about the ‘rats saving face AND circling the wagons (again) for Hillary.
They will certainly try to turn Manafort into a government witness, but against whom? If, as seems reasonable to believe at this point in the ongoing multiple “investigations” into election collusion, there is no “there” there – what can Manafort be used for? He apparently was not a business partner of Trump, though Mueller’s team is alleged to have gone back years in Trump’s business dealings (searching for the beginning of Trump’s election collusion in the last 15 years of business?). We’ll have to wait and see what else, if anything, comes from this.
No problem, just securing a Trump victory for 2020. Keep going “deep state” as you are digging your own grave!
Following the trail from the indictment – Davis Manafort International LLC , Rick Davis pops up on the Radar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Davis_(politics)
Richard H. “Rick” Davis, Jr. (born 1957) is an American political consultant. He currently serves as a Partner and Chief Operating Officer of Pegasus Sustainable Century Merchant Bank, a private equity firm specializing in sustainable development projects. He is a managing partner of the business development and public affairs consulting firm Davis-Manafort, located in Alexandria, Virginia.[1] He is best known for being the National Campaign Manager of John McCain’s 2008 Presidential campaign..”
Looks like McCain is in pretty deep. Considering that McCain was part of the Keaton Five, shoes will be dropping. Starting to look more like Collusion between Clinton and McCain.
https://www.circa.com/story/2017/06/21/heres-the-russia-influence-controversy-that-john-mccain-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about
As per AP:
Manafort has been a subject of a longstanding FBI investigation into his dealings in Ukraine and work for the country’s former president, Viktor Yanukovych. That investigation was incorporated into Mueller’s broader probe.
But they only announced it today? Clearly, not a distraction from Friday’s announcement about The Shrill and Uranium One. /
And who was in charge of that investigation in which no charges were filed? Why, Rosenstein and Mueller.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/452972/uranium-one-deal-obama-administration-doj-hillary-clinton-racketeering
Conflict of interest so obvious only Rags could miss it.
Not for nothing but… Manafort spending a $849.000.00 at a New York Men’s store with unreported income strikes me as criminal on so many levels. I have heard of Big Pants people but darn, How big are his pants?
Come on, those rich types spend millions on crappy art all the time. At least he has good tastes in suits
Not sure he was a smart guy on spending all that money on rugs.
I am thinking Manafort was trying to use his connection with Trump to boaster his position with Deripaska. According to the Circa story, Manafort reported in 2008 his Russian lobbying efforts. Sounds like they are squeezing Manafort and Gates for information.
If changes stick, it looks like he will have to forfeiture a bunch of stuff.
Looking at some of the stuff in there, it looks pretty weak in places.
Is it possible that Manafort-Gates Indictment is a way to keep Manafort-Gates quite about Clinton/Russian dealings?
I mean some of the stuff in there probably could be the same stuff that Obama did for his house in DC.
This looks like the illegal gratuity type charges that was on Olie North security fence.
It is possible, even likely, that this indictment was designed to keep Manafort quiet to protect the Podestas, Clintons and others in the Obama administrations. Especially after Manafort was linked to the Podestas and thereby to the DNC.
The timing on this is highly suspect.
So when will there be charges against the Clintons?
I see parking ticket enforcement getting a lot of resources while Uranium deals are flying faster than hot car parts on craigslist.
Well, thi9s was really no surprise. And, all of the charges are pre-Trump campaign. Also, the charges are mostly very technical banking and tax regulation charges. The failure to register as a foreign lobbyist is interesting, but really pretty minor in this day and age. The conspiracy against the United States sounds good, on paper, but unless it can be shown that Manfort’s actions were specifically design to harm the US, it will fall by the wayside.
Manafort finally got caught doing what he was known to be doing for the last decade. However, the interesting thing about this is what does it mean for the Podestas and Clintons, who were engaged in the same type of activities during that time period? Will we see indictments of them as well? Can’t wait for the next act here.
Were there classifiable crimes committed before or after the Obama-backed coup in Kiev?
Andrew McCarthy published an opinion on the indictment this afternoon.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/453244/manafort-indictment-no-signs-trump-russia-collusion
I didn’t see Jay-Walking or spitting on the sidewalk in there, but everything else.
And, he is fighting it.
As he had dealings with Podesta, he is in good position.
” Hey, and I got more! You gotta listen to this one about Mueller clearing Uranium one…. “
Manafort Charges Include Conspiracy Against U.S., Money Laundering, False Statements
Ooohhh, that sounds serious. I guess Manafort’s plan was to bring down the country by not paying his taxes. Also, he planned to bring it down by conspiring to not pay his taxes.
Scary!