Remember that Robert Mueller investigation?
That would be the one about potential collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin and also about whether the President might be guilty of obstructing justice by trying to impede the investigation.
That would also be the one that’s supposed to be going away because there’s nothing to it according to Donald Trump, his surrogates, and the alt-Right blogosphere.
Well guess what? It’s not going away. And not only is it not going away, CNN is out reporting that a federal grand jury in Washington on Friday “approved the first charges in the investigation.”
According to sources, the charges are still sealed but “plans were prepared Friday for anyone charged to be taken into custody as soon as Monday.”
Procedurally speaking, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein would presumably have been notified of the charges before they were brought to the grand jury. CNN says some of the special counsel’s top lawyers, including Andrew Weissmann, “were seen entering the court room at the DC federal court where the grand jury meets to hear testimony in the Russia investigation” today.
So ultimately, you can expect to see someone in handcuffs early next week or else simply turning themselves in peacefully while a throng of reporters crowd around for the perp walk.
And while we’re not going to speculate on what the exact charges are likely to be (even though we have a pretty damn good idea), it seems entirely reasonable to say that Paul Manafort is the odds-on favorite to be the first guy charged. Given that, here’s a quick recap of what’s happened to Paul over the past several months:
As anyone who’s followed the Russia investigation knows, Paul Manafort is screwed — and “big league.” Long the subject of intense scrutiny, the former Trump campaign chairman is on the front lines of the battle to discover exactly what went on between the President’s associates and emissaries from Moscow in the lead up to the election.
On July 26, Manafort’s Virginia home was the subject of a predawn FBI raid which the The New York Times recounted in excruciating detail earlier this month. Subsequently, Robert Mueller issued subpoenas to a former lawyer for Manafort and to Manafort’s spokesman, a move described by CNN at the time as “an aggressive tactic that suggests an effort to add pressure on the former Trump campaign chairman.”
Additionally, Mueller is also reportedly working with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on the Manafort investigation. By all accounts, that’s an effort to circumvent Trump’s pardon power.
As if all of that wasn’t enough evidence to support the notion that Manafort is set to be the “key” that unlocks the door to eventually indicting Donald Trump, last month CNN reported that Manafort was wiretapped by U.S. investigators for years with an interlude “sometime” in 2016 — the “gap” apparently encompassed the June meeting between Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Natalia Veselnitskaya.
On Tuesday evening, WSJ reported that Manafort is indeed the subject of a money laundering probe by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office. And just today, Politico revealed that “the realtor who helped Manafort buy the Virginia condo that was recently raided by the FBI testified last week before the federal grand jury.”
This is only the beginning of course, and as this drags on, Roger Stone’s contention that no one will roll on Donald Trump will be put to the test.
As for attempts to deflect from all of this, it looks like Trump’s “team” is going to need to conjure up more uranium conspiracy theories – and right quick.
Now cue the Right-wing media to explain why the special counsel is hopelessly biased and why Robert Mueller should be forced to resign.
Paul Manafort right now pic.twitter.com/QFo3klZWr0
— Heisenberg Report (@heisenbergrpt) October 28, 2017
Hey, don’t forget those 30,000 deleted emails too!
But, we’ll see. So far there has been a surprising lack of evidence given the amount of manufactured media furor devoted to this subject.
Oh, and before I forget. I wanted to give a shoutout to Mr. Heisenberg. He responded to an earlier post of mine and I wanted to say that I really appreciate the time he took to personally respond. I know most people in his position do not have the time or the inclination to respond to a subscriber like me and it says a lot about him as a person. Thank you.
“Now to Bill in the Action News 4 Chopper following the mysterious white Bronco”, “Bill what can you tell us”? “Well Walter the windows are all dark so no word on the passenger, but the driver seen through the front windshield has orange hair, quite noticeable I might add”.
Yep, we all need to laugh. Too bad about
the sadness and shame
in D.C. politics… and this is not fake news. EVERYBODY “AIN’T”
FOOLISH.😎😃😅
Let’s keep in mind the four major issues of the ongoing investigations:
1. Did the Russians interfere with the U.S. elections, to what extent, and how.
2. Was Trump aware of the Russian interference, and why did he not report it? (or worse)
3. Did Trump try to obstruct justice as the FBI, or any other federal agency, tried to uncover the election interference?
4. Did Trump try to obstruct justice in the investigation of his, or his associates’, business dealings with the Russians?
If Manafort is charged, and the charges relate to his business dealings and unregistered foreign agent issue, that address item 4 only. And it doesn’t yet indicate that Trump obstructed justice. We are a long way from nailing Trump.
YES,YES,YES, AND YES.
Next?
The Uranium deal stinks on it’s own accord. It neither exonerates Trump, nor excuses the Clintons. It deserves more investigation
More interested in the
handcuffs for now!!!
Paul, that horse is dead, please quit beating it.
http://www.factcheck.org/2017/10/facts-uranium-one/
http://www.factcheck.org/2015/04/no-veto-power-for-clinton-on-uranium-deal/
https://www.vox.com/world/2017/2/17/14649980/trump-clinton-russia-uranium
The Washington Post Fact Checker noted last year, “There is no evidence Clinton herself got involved in the deal personally, and it is highly questionable that this deal even rose to the level of the secretary of state.” The Post gave Trump “Four Pinocchios” for his campaign claims. The fact-checking website Snopes rated the claim “False.”