Daily Mail: Furious Trump tweets 'NO COLLUSION' and washes his hands of campaign chairman Paul Manafort after Mueller indicts lobbyist on $75 million money-laundering charge and accuses him of conspiring against the U.S.
* The first charges from the probe of possible Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election were unsealed Monday morning
* Paul Manafort and Rick Gates surrendered to face charges including conspiracy against the United States and conspiracy to launder money
* Other charges are being an unregistered agent of a foreign principal, making false and misleading Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) statements and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts
* Manafort left his home shortly after 8:00 a.m. to turn himself in; he and Gates were processed at FBI HQ and released
* Indictment says Manafort and Gates controlled $75 million in slush funds, buying tailored suits, cars, rugs and antiques
* A federal grand jury approved the indictment on Friday and a judge ordered it sealed then
* Mueller also revealed Monday that a former Trump foreign policy aid pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about contact with the Russians
* Trump has denied the allegations of collusion with the Russians and called the probe 'a witch hunt'
* He tweeted Monday that Manafort's alleged crimes happened 'years ago' and the special counsel's focus should be on 'Crooked Hillary & the Dems'
* An Obama-appointed judge who was confirmed unanimously in the U.S. Senate has been assigned the case
An angry Donald Trump washed his hands of his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort on Monday morning, hours after the veteran lobbyist was dramatically charged with money laundering and conspiring against the United States.
'Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign,' Trump tweeted after the charges were unsealed. 'But why aren't Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????'
'Also, there is NO COLLUSION!' he insisted.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: The Paul Manafort and Richard Gates indictment can be read here.
As to what is my take on today's arrests .... I personally expected more. After a year of investigations this is all they have? And even this Manafort indictment is not new .... this has been expected by many (including this blog) for months. It also looks like (to me) that Robert Mueller is going to focus on financial crimes, and we already know that he has (and is) checking everyone's business dealings going back 10 years (for Manafort he went back to 2006). But should this be the purview of a Special Prosecutor? And where is the Russian collusion?
I did expect Michael Flynn to be arrested today .... but they choose not to. I guess what stopped them was that in the past year Michael Flynn has gone about declaring what his earnings were abroad, and refiling his taxes. I do not know about the laws in the U.S. on being a foreign agent .... but I think he has finally declared that .... if not officially, at least publicly. I also suspect that he has been truthful to the FBI when he was questioned ... but if not .... expect charges in the near future.
I am also interested in knowing what was Paul Manafort's relationship with the Podesta Group. The indictment focuses on a time period when Manafort was working with the Podesta Group .... and it is known (from what I am reading) that Manafort was operating in the same way that the Podesta Group has operating in their foreign dealings. The media is ignoring this part of the story, and I can only hope that more details will come out from that relationship.
The leak to CNN on Friday that this was going to happen today is also disturbing. This is a federal crime, and it is obvious that there is a problem in Mueller's office.
Today's news is also a deflection from last week's bombshell report that the Clinton campaign and the DNC financed the Russian dossier that brought about this Special Counsel in the first place. There is also now reports (today) that President Obama's campaign also gave money to Fusion GPS .... the firm behind this dossier. But I think this deflection is only temporary. This dossier was handled by everyone in the FBI and the intelligence community after the election, and many now want to know if this was used to unmask individuals in intelligence operations, and if so how was it used in getting warrants to conduct surveillance operations. The current media and political narrative is that it makes no difference on who paid for this dossier .... that it is the content that counts. Of course no one has been able to verify the contents of this dossier .... and how can it be verified when one realizes the dossier is nothing more but a political document paid for by a political party and its leaders. But the media narrative on this story has changed (it had to) .... and I am sensing that many people are not buying it.
So how long will this entire investigation last? It appears that the Mueller Commission is focusing on financial and process crimes in its investigation. If President Trump is the ultimate target (and he is), Robert Mueller will need to look at all of his business and financial dealings going back 10 years .... if not more. Considering the thousands upon thousands of transactions that businessman Trump has done in his life .... I am willing to wager that this investigation is going to end long after we are all dead from old age.
Update: Talk about playing hardball .... Manafort and Gates face decades in prison, millions in fines (AP).
Update #2: No reporting today on the Uranium deal, and no coverage on those behind the Uranium deal paying former President Bill Clinton $500,000 for a one hour speech in Moscow, and donating $145 million to the Clinton Foundation. Just imagine if Melania Trump got a $500,000 speaking fee in Moscow and Trump's businesses got a $145 million cash infusion. Sighhh .... another day where we .... the little people .... can look and be witness to American politics and the media at work.
Update #3: Is this a coincidence .... or is there something more behind this story? This has the potential of becoming a big story .... Tony Podesta stepping down from lobbying giant amid Mueller probe (Politico).
The Manafort & Associate Indictment -- News Updates October 30, 2017
Manafort, Gates indicted in first charges from Russia probe -- AP
Trump ex-campaign Manafort charged with conspiracy -- AFP
Paul Manafort, Once of Trump Campaign, Indicted as an Adviser Admits to Lying About Ties to Russia -- New York Times
Manafort indicted on 12 counts, surrenders to FBI -- The Hill
Manafort, associate indicted on 12 charges in Russia election probe -- UPI
Trump ex-campaign Manafort reports to FBI in in Russia probe -- AFP
Ex-Trump aide Manafort charged with US tax fraud over Ukraine work -- BBC
Paul Manafort turns himself in as Trump-Russia inquiry heats up -- The Guardian
Russia probe: Trump aide Paul Manafort charged with 12 counts -- DW
Paul Manafort: Donald Trump's ex-campaign manager indicted in FBI Russia probe -- ABC News Online
Rick Gates Was a Protégé of Paul Manafort's Before Being Indicted Alongside Him -- New York Times
Mueller's Russia investigation: What to know -- FOX News
How Paul Manafort Spent His Laundered Millions -- US News and World Report
Yup.. as predicted by me too.now as I said, cnn will spin this nothingburger (after 1 year!! Lol) into overdrive for 72hrs and Jay will eat it up.
ReplyDeleteAnd it starts ..now on CNN.com headline news:
Delete"Russia probe takes dramatic turn"
What dramatic turn? We all saw it coming from a mile away
Next:
"Is this Watergate or Iran-Contra?"
It's neither. It's CNNs way of making nearly 16% of its revenue since 9/2016.
... I wrote so almost 6 months ago, that this is the end of credibility that cnn has. It's beyond pathetic to attack Trump (and I despise him for his lack of intellect and abundance of vulgarity) for one year and all that Mueller has to offer at the brink of being sacked is the open-secret to everyone in Washington that Manafort lobbies for Russia. I mean that's even on his website and business card. And the money laundering, please, that was suspected at the time of his firing and everyone in Washington does it. Including the Clintons. Absolutely nothing to show for after nearly calling Trump committing treason with Russia on national and international news for 24/7 for 12 months. Are you kidding me?! And it's legal only because CNN copies Fox news method of hiding behind the "opinion" section. That should be illegal for news organisations to basically be just opinion or get so much % of your overall revenue based on opinions and pouring oil on flames and letting the country go down the toilet.
And then you have guys like Van Jones going on Bill Maher and trying to claim the high Road for the democratic party. Take the high road and say you've got nothing and admit you've called him all kind of things for a year. This witchhunt damaged the image of the US almost just as much as Trump's vulgarity and ignorance. However, all the democratic crimes have been very coveniently forgotten and sidelined by cnn. Remember the Wassermann Schulz fiasco and how they manipulated the process in favour for Clinton and drove Bernie out and used his Jewish fate against him? And remember how Clinton got the town hall questions ahead of the debate by cnn contributor? It's unbelievable to then try to claim the high Road. I was Democrat before. I'll certainly never will be republican, but I don't recognise Democrats anymore - van Jones especially trying his book tour now on being the high Road guy. Pathetic how he tried to push it on bill maher "I wrote a book on that" No thanks.
ah, anon...dream on...you know so much more and are so sure of outcome?so sure that you badmouth an hones comment guy? let us see down the road. If you are wrong, I suspect you will slink off and pretend you never posted your views so early on
ReplyDeleteFred, respectfully, "down the road"? It's been one year. I heard the argument "it takes time" and "Watergate took two years" before. But you're misunderstanding my point, let me reiterate then to make it clearer:
Delete1. Mueller - under extreme pressure to produce anything of substance - is giving us Manafort. In Washington that's a joke. Everyone, and I mean everyone, knows about his dealings. He's shady and known for that. Even a year ago the news were full of it when he was fired. Just Google it. .it's so known that I can't be bothered to provide links.
2. Cnn has led a media lynch mob of allegations against Trump and hidden behind opinion pieces to avoid legal ramifications. Do you think it's OK to nearly call the president a traitor (=collusion with Russia) 24/7 for 12 months straight? Is that honorable?
Look, I despise Trump. He's a vulgar pig, clearly has issues with women and likely black Americans, but you can't make him go away by fabricating a story and ignoring inconvenient facts - like Clinton paying for a dossier that started these allegations and the author of the hit piece avoiding all questions. Common, Fred. This is the swamp. This. Paying money for hit piece's. Chumming up with a mass rapist and taking his money but accusing Trump of being xyz (he actually is all of that, but what I don't like are double standards we always seem to have between the parties)
And what I then really can't stand is someone deep deep in the Clinton team (Van Jones) who keeps calling Trump everything in the book, then trying to make money from selling books on his high Road tour. Don't you see what's going on? The Democrats are so full of themselves these days they spend money on reading what they believe is true - not what is true anymore. Everyone in the democratic book is bad these days - but never the Democrats. Look at the Clinton/Mueller connection, the money spent, how Bernie was kept down, how the election process was manipulated by a contributor of CNN (!!) Giving Hillary's team townhall questions ahead of the debate. Are you serious, Fred? Common wake up. If you're a Democrat still - which used to be a great thing - hold them accountable, otherwise that party will lose the next election. And that would be a shame. Again. Take it from someone who wrote extensively about Trump, his moral failings and business failings - I hate this guy. But all the lies on the democratic side - the side that used to be speaking the truth - are now ripping the country apart as it becomes clear that everyone is lying and everyone is dirty. And it makes sense, if you consider that the DNC is a private company (!) And can elect whoever they want (as long as they can influence everyone to go along / see the Wassermann schultz lies) and the process to run for president far exceeded 1bn on each side this time. This is not democracy or the seeking of truth.
And fred - your logic is also flawed as I stay anonymous no matter if I'm right or wrong. There's nothing for me to gain. Wnu knows my ip and he'll be able to confirm if he can be bothered that I'm the same anonymous who ages ago - a year plus - started to write about this on this blog. And several months before on my own pages warning about trump and what a terrible president he would be for minorities. So, respectfully, don't judge someone you don't know. Given your age I know you know that's good advise. :)
DeleteSir-
ReplyDeleteTrump's numbers as low as any modern president has ever had. In fact, the lowest of any modern president
fact: he is disliked by many of our allies and now many of those nations now look to China as key nation on international affairs
fact: he has insulted more members of his own party than of the other party.
fact: his accomplishments to date after all the many promises?
and so, you much prefer to comment about CNN? and ignore Fox, your home away from home? a bastion of truth, right?
my view: slow down. let us see where the chips fall
Bernie had a Jewish fate, driven in part to it by Jewish Wasserman? I have no idea what that means and prefer not to have you spell out what you had in mind.
Fred, again, you fail to see my point. I don't know why.
DeleteLook, we're both in agreement that Trump is horrible. Please again read above, I called him out 1 1/2 years ago on my blog and a year ago here and above I call him dispicable and a pig. How much clearer can I be? :)
My argument is that cnn lost its moral standing. By going on the gutter with trump and lying like trump and protecting Clinton they are just as bad in my book. What they are doing is shaping the opinion of the entire world with hit pieces, while they had own people at cnn playing into Clintons hands. I don't know why I have to repeat this over and over. ..cnn colluded with the Clintons. Don't you get that basic fact? or are you blind to the big lie? :)
ReplyDeleteWhy it matters: This is the first indictment of Mueller's probe, and although it doesn't explicitly link a former Trump campaign associate directly to pro-Trump Russian collusion, it shifted the probe even closer to Trump and those close to him — and it negates Trump's claims that Mueller's work is simply a "witch hunt" with no basis.
a new indictment from guy who admits having lied, pleads guilty...George somethingorother...connected to russians and election,,,foreign policy guy
ReplyDeleteAnon,
ReplyDeleteI get about 20,000 unique visitors per day at this blog. The last thing that I want to do is check IP addresses. :)
But it it is true that sometimes I will browse to find out who is visiting the site, but I focus on unique IP addresses .... specifically those that come from Whitehouse.gov, Kremlin.ru, english.gov.cn, etc. and from news publications i.e. .... New York Times, Washington Post, BBC, The Guardian, Reuters, AP,, etc.
Hehe fair enough.
Deletedear anon
ReplyDeletehow long did it take to take down Nixon?
for something as big as a potential Russian connection, a strong one, to American elections is serious and will take lots of time to make a solid case.I view your rush to judgement as a guy who wants to know why the girl is taking so long to climax...my view: be gentle, understanding, and there will be a climax...or not. But one way or the other, we will know the outcome...I note that while i type this, Trump tweeting nonstop and phoning all over the place.
I have no money on the outcome. But we have serious people spending lots of time and putting reputations at stake, so I am willing to wait for the outcome. It worked for me with girls when i was young and in that game...hope it works for me now that i am old
Fred. Again, it seems as if we're not talking to each other.I'm making that exact point. I'm accusing cnn of rushing to conclusions for more than a year now! That's my entire beef, you summed it up. But you see only me rushing to conclusions but not cnn. In the us and many other countries the burden of proof lies with the accuser. Still the accuser (cnn being the loudest by far) shows no evidence for a year, hides beige opinion pieces that call the president a traitor and then after one year HYPE an indictment that Mueller made about someone everyone in Washington knew was dirty. Did you Google the one year old news about Manafort by now? Common, Fred... and while all of this goes on and while CNN is caught red handed with some of their guys (actually a lady and friend of van Jones) helping the Clinton machine by sending her team a town hall question ahead of the town hall - van Jones goes on the high Road tour and sells books to you. Unbelievable. And you eat it up
DeleteI watch CNN once in a while but seldom daily ...why? because cable news too often has "experts" who are merely "strategists" for one or the other party...i like PBS, because they use more nearly objective specfialists on a topic.
ReplyDeleteIn general, it makes sense to see as many sources as possible, as often as possible, and if similar material appears over and over it is a safe guess that what is being said has merit
ps: wolf give me heartburn, esp. when he shouts out Stand By, and i return to being back in the army
WNU
ReplyDeleteRegarding "IP addresses" have you ever matched up Anon's as Smith's?
Bob,
ReplyDeleteLOL
I am getting 20 per second visitors on this blog right now. Trust me on this one .... I am way too busy to be even interested in checking who is who.
Bob... common, don't compare me with azino, he's bat s*it crazy about half of the things here... I'm just making the point about CNN being irresponsible. What's wrong about that? Even Fred moved on and now talks about PBS being the better choice, and I agree. PBS is the better choice. My beef with cnn is really that they have become what Fox news is to Republicans. A bubble. Don't talk about bad stuff that democrats did. don't report about bad stuff democrats (or even own cnn contributors did), just talk about republicans and make up stuff. that's why I start to despise cnn - and whenever they do their money grabbing lying stick, I'll call them out
ReplyDeleteEven Fred? how Odd
ReplyDeleteNot meant to insult you Fred, the "even" was with regards to the fact the we both were the ones arguing over cnn (from my point of view, but then I realised you were arguing about rushing to judgment, which I was arguing about too/my beef with cnn)... i'm just quite irritated by their lack of professionalism in reporting. They used to be so much better than Fox and now just hide behind opinion hit pieces while clearly working for the democratic party (like fox could be argued lying for republicans). But I repeat myself. ..you're right, Fred... PBS is the way to go. :)
DeleteMrs Clinton just lost another sources of funding.
ReplyDeleteThis scandal is really hurting the Democrats or should I say DEMONcrats
https://mobile.twitter.com/J_Harding/status/925072504217133056/photo/1?
ReplyDelete