Plan B Forum

The indictment contains 12 counts: conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading FARA statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts.


All tied to work for the government of Ukraine.

Indictment here:

https://www.justice.gov/file/1007271/download


And while the so-called president and his Trumpanzee minions will be sure to disavow Manafort quickly, just remember these are the types of people the Cheeto-master surrounds himself with, and this is an example of their so-called ethics. Low-hanging fruit. Tip of the iceberg. There will be much more to come.

I had already posted about this in the Bill Of Impeachment thread...

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=17598&start=180

But this is significant enough to merit its own discussion, so I'll repeat what I said there:

Since these charges apparently don't relate directly to Manafort's involvement in the campaign, you can now expect that Trump, and his minions, and his sycophants in the press, and his water boys on The Hill, will all be saying, "See! No colusion! No obstruction! Russia and Trump is a ruse! Fake news! Now go get Hillary Clinton!"...

They will also do their best to portray this as the culmination of the investigation rather than what it is...

Just round one...

I don't know how to make the Twatter image, but this is hilarious:

Sean Hannity‏
Verified account @seanhannity

.@newtgingrich: "Nobody should underestimate how much Paul Manafort did to really help get this [Trump] campaign to where it is right now."

7:08 PM - 19 Aug 2016

Happy indictment day, everyone! So far, we've got money laundering, tax evasion, conspiracy and failure to register as an agent of the Russian puppet government/political party in Ukraine. That's nice, but it seems like it should be leading somewhere, no?

That's not a surprise. All of the stuff that happened and is happening in Ukraine is strange. When the previous head of Ukraine was deposed and fled to Russia pictures surfaced showing the grounds and interior of his mansion. It looked like everything inside was either gold or gold plated. IDK what his official salary was. It wasn't much into six figures if that. He also had a large garage with a collection of cars that Jay Leno would have snickered at. The point is for those connected or in power there's lots of cash floating around via corruption in Ukraine. One of Russia's beefs with Ukraine is the natural gas that disappears from the pipelines on the way to Europe. It's worth enough money to have been one of the reasons to invade Crimea.

Manafort dug his own grave by getting in that bed. It makes me wonder why the IRS didn't spot him.

Just read the indictment on politico.com.

Manafort is in deep deep shit. This is not some technical 'whoops I forgot to file that piece of paper' thing. Gates perhaps less so and I am assuming he was essentially the junior partner in this. But the amounts listed are staggering and Manafort will have to turn over some substantial assets. Just one vendor, apparently a home improvement outfit in The Hamptons, got $5.4 million from him. Ok I know it's the posh end of Long Island but that seems on the pricey side for a new shower insert and gutter helmet. He liked to spread it around: a men's clothing store in NY got $840,000. He must have really cleaned up on those 'buy one suit, get two free' sales. But when it's tax free you can afford the nicer things in life.

As LJ so succinctly says, the Trumpaphone will like this. See, there is nothing there! Let's get back to the really important business of this country which is figuring out exactly how many emails there were on Hillary's server. Lock her up!

Darren wrote:pictures surfaced showing the grounds and interior of his mansion. It looked like everything inside was either gold or gold plated.

Yet another Trump connection!

And by the way, I highly doubt that the criminal investigation ends with the Manafort/Gates indictment. These guys were relatively easy to nail on the money shenanigans, but their real value is as witnesses against the next set(s) of defendants.

Sue U wrote:

Darren wrote:pictures surfaced showing the grounds and interior of his mansion. It looked like everything inside was either gold or gold plated.

Yet another Trump connection!

And by the way, I highly doubt that the criminal investigation ends with the Manafort/Gates indictment. These guys were relatively easy to nail on the money shenanigans, but their real value is as witnesses against the next set(s) of defendants.

That's exactly right. As a legal tactic it makes sense to start at the bottom of the food chain and work up. I doubt Manafort will be using H&R Block in the future for his taxes.

O hai, this day just keeps getting better. Also unsealed today is the guilty plea entered earlier this month by Trump camapaign adviser George Papadopoulos, who admitted lying to the FBI in Mueller's probe. What did he lie about? Oh, just his connection to Russians trying to peddle dirt on Hillary in the middle of the campaign:



Man, the Trump campaign has more Russia connections that Aeroflot.

Next up, Junior & Jared?

Sue U wrote:O hai, this day just keeps getting better. Also unsealed today is the guilty plea entered earlier this month by Trump camapaign adviser George Papadopoulos, who admitted lying to the FBI in Mueller's probe. What did he lie about? Oh, just his connection to Russians trying to peddle dirt on Hillary in the middle of the campaign:



Man, the Trump campaign has more Russia connections that Aeroflot.

Next up, Junior & Jared?

I edited my title to include Georgie.

The noose is getting tighter by the hour.

I wonder if that goes back to Guccifer who claimed to have hacked Clinton's server via Blumenthal's poor choice of a password. Supposedly the Russians spotted his activities which were unknown to us. He was already in a Romanian prison for hacking some some bigwig there when the FBI got permission to bring him to this country. That may be the connection to the thousands of emails from a Russian source.

pictures surfaced showing the grounds and interior of his mansion. It looked like everything inside was either gold or gold plated.

You mean like this?:

Next up, Junior & Jared?

I've thought for a while that Manafort is one of the keys in moving up the food chain to those two...

He worked closely with them during his time chairing the campaign, and of course was a participant at that infamous meeting with them when they met with the Russians to talk about getting dirt on Hillary...

Reportedly Manafort has not been very co-operative; perhaps this multi-count indictment will help to improve his attitude...

ETA:

I edited my title to include Georgie.

I think an important part of the significance of this is that Mueller's signaling to all other interviewees and potential interviewees that if they lie to the FBI he's serious as a heart attack about bringing charges against them...

Lord Jim wrote:I think an important part of the significance of this is that Mueller's signaling to all other interviewees and potential interviewees that if they lie to the FBI he's serious as a heart attack about bringing charges against them...

I think it means he has a cooperative witness.

That too...

The splashy news is the Manafort Gates thing with huge $$$$$.

In the long run the more damaging item will be Papadopoulos' guilty plea.

I wish I had some popcorn. I am watching this on CNN: I wonder if I have the strength to try Fox News.

Sue U wrote:

Lord Jim wrote:I think an important part of the significance of this is that Mueller's signaling to all other interviewees and potential interviewees that if they lie to the FBI he's serious as a heart attack about bringing charges against them...

I think it means he has a cooperative witness.

Exactly.

Lord Jim wrote:

pictures surfaced showing the grounds and interior of his mansion. It looked like everything inside was either gold or gold plated.

You mean like this?:

Here's the place Yanukovych abandoned. I'm sure he was big on donating to charity, I think Trump has him on gaudy. It's a close call. Neither is to my taste or pocketbook even if I won the lottery.

I turned to Fox. They are discussing taking a knee in the NFL. Yes, let's deal with the really important stuff.

Still waiting for orders, I imagine.

Right on cue:

Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 1h1 hour ago

Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren't Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????

Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump

....Also, there is NO COLLUSION!
7:28 AM - 30 Oct 2017

Re Fox: They were discussing it earlier. I try not to pay attention because I don't want to be screaming at the tv at work.