Paul Manafort Told To Surrender To Feds, Will Turn Himself In

And there it is folks. It’s Paul Manafort.

MANAFORT IS SAID TO TURN HIMSELF IN TODAY: CNN
MANAFORT IS SAID TO HAVE BEEN TOLD TO SURRENDER TO FEDS: NYT

According to the Times, Manafort and his former associate Rick Gates were told to surrender to federal authorities this morning. The Times cites one unidentified person involved in the case.

Gates is a Manafort “protÃ©gÃ©” (which henceforth will be something exactly no one wants to be described as) and his name is apparently on documents tied to companies that Manafort’s firm established in Cyprus in order to receive payments from Eastern European politicians and businesspeople the Times notes.

The charges are as yet not clear. As the Times goes on to remind you, Manafort had been under investigation for violations of tax law, money laundering, and foreign lobbying disclosures.

For their part, CNN has confirmed and says Manafort will turn himself in. And now we have video from CBS showing Manafort on the way to surrender.

WATCH: Paul Manafort & his lawyer leaving Manafort's apartment.The first arrest could be made today in Robert Mueller's investigation. pic.twitter.com/weo1taIn14

— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) October 30, 2017

Oh, and another one:

https://twitter.com/TomNamako/status/924973697403891714

Apparently, tax fraud is one of the charges:

Breaking news- paul manafort asked to surrender. One of Mueller's charges: tax fraud @MorningsMaria @FoxBusiness @dagenmcdowell

— Maria Bartiromo (@MariaBartiromo) October 30, 2017

More to come. For now, here’s a reminder of what’s happened to Paul over the past several months in connection with the Mueller probe, excerpted from our previous posts…

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.”