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Updated 6.15pm
FORMER CAMPAIGN MANAGER for US president Donald Trump Paul Manafort has been officially indicted in the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election, but has plead not guilty.
Separately, campaign aide George Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to lying to FBI investigators probing the campaign’s possible links to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
This morning, the New York Times reported that Manafort had been told to hand himself in to federal authorities.
A business associate of Manafort, Rick Gates, has also been told to give himself up. Gates also pleaded not guilty.
The indictments against the two have now been unsealed and can be read on the website of the US Department of Justice.
The two have been charged with 12 counts:
The charges do not relate to activity during the election campaign.
The federal grand jury indictment states that “the case was unsealed on 30 October 2017, after the defendants were permitted to surrender themselves to the custody of the FBI”.
The 31-page document charges that Manafort and Gates “concealed from the United States their work as agents of, and million of dollars in payments from, Ukraine and its political parties and leaders”.
It alleges that they and ‘their accomplices’ funneled millions of dollars in payments into foreign nominee companies and bank accounts ‘in various foreign countries, including Cyprus, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Seychelles’.
It accuses Manafort of laundering more than $18 million (€16 million) from these offshore accounts, and ‘used his hidden overseas wealth to enjoy a lavish lifestyle in the United States, without paying taxes on that income’.
Manafort, one of three campaign managers Trump used, and the immediate predecessor to Kellyanne Conway in the role, had been under investigation for alleged violations of US tax law, money laundering, and a failure to disclose lobbying on behalf of foreign governments.
President Trump has yet to comment publicly on the charges.
The US capital had been tenterhooks all weekend awaiting news of the first arrests in the sweeping probe, led by former FBI chief Robert Mueller, into Russia’s attempts to tilt the 2016 presidential elections in Donald Trump’s favour.
Papadopoulos
George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy advisor to the campaign early last year, entered the plea 5 October, admitting he sought to hide contacts with a Moscow linked professor offering “dirt” on Donald Trump’s election rival Hillary Clinton.
He had meetings with a woman he described as Vladimir Putin’s niece as well as the Russian ambassador in London in March last year, after which he told other campaign officials that they had discussed arranging meetings with Trump and campaign staff.
A month later he reported that his Russia-linked contact, an unnamed “professor”, had offered him “dirt” on Trump rival Hillary Clinton, including “thousands of emails”, according to the indictment.
By May and June 2016, Papadopoulos had held a number of meetings with the Russia contacts and the professor, and emailed a senior Trump campaign official pushing a possible meeting between the Russians and Trump himself.
“I have the Russian MFA asking me if Mr Trump is interested in visiting Russia at some point,” he wrote in June, referring to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Over the next several weeks, when Trump was established as the Republican candidate, Papadopoulos also discussed in emails a possible “off the record” meeting between Trump campaign officials and members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s office, as well as MFA officials.
The Papadopoulos indictment was the sharpest evidence yet of possible collusion between the campaign and Russia just as Moscow was revving up its covert operation to steer the election in Trump’s favor.
There was no indication from the indictment of how Trump campaign officials reacted to Papadopoulos’ communications, except comments like “great work” from an unnamed campaign supervisor.
But it was clear from his communications he had the Russian officials’ attention already in early 2016 when he was named as one of Trump’s five official foreign policy advisors that March.
“As mentioned we are all very excited by the possibility of a good relationship with Mr. Trump. The Russian Federation would love to welcome him once his candidature would be officially announced,” the woman Papadopoulos identified as Putin’s niece told him in an April 2016 email.
In a plea bargain agreement entered on 5 October and released today, Papadopoulos admitting lying to investigators last January as he sought to hide the extent of his contacts with the Russians.
“Through his false statements and omissions, defendant Papadopoulos impeded the FBI’s ongoing investigation into the existence of any links or coordination between individuals associated with the campaign and the Russian government’s efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election,” the indictment said.
The indictment and plea were unsealed today a short time after former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and business partner Rick Gates were charged with conspiracy against the US.
They were the first indictments to be made public by special counsel Robert Mueller since he took over the Russia probe in May.
Keeping its distance
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said this evening that most of the alleged activities for which Manafort and Gates have been indicted took place before the 2016 campaign.
Sanders said the alleged misdeeds have nothing to do with Trump.
But she said it “has everything to do” with Hillary Clinton’s campaign and a research firm that produced the dossier of allegations about Trump’s ties to the Kremlin.
Sanders was also asked about the guilty plea by former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos. She said Papadopoulos was a “volunteer.”
Defensive tweets
Trump, in a rapid burst of tweets yesterday and today, denounced the investigation as a “witch hunt” and repeated denials that his White House campaign colluded with Russia.
Mueller’s team has remained publicly silent about reports that a first arrest could come as early as today. He is empowered to pursue not only Russian interference but any other crimes his prosecutors should uncover.
Chris Christie, a Republican governor close to Trump, said yesterday on ABC that: “the important thing about today for the American people to know is the president is not under investigation. And no one has told him that he is.”
It was unclear how the New Jersey governor would know whether Trump is being investigated; he may have been referring to earlier comments by former FBI chief James Comey.
But Christie told CNN that anyone who has been advised by Mueller’s office that they are a target of the inquiry “should be concerned”.
‘Small fish’
Typically, such a wide-ranging investigation would first target lower-level people while building a case against those higher up. Sometimes early indictments are used to pressure potential witnesses into turning against others.
Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, who worked for president George W Bush, predicted on Twitter that “if there is an indictment, it will be a small fish”.
“A new name that I bet has no bearing on Trump.”
Speculation has focused on former national security adviser Michael Flynn along with Manafort, both of whom were once involved in undeclared lobbying for foreign interests.
Buzzfeed reported yesterday that the FBI is probing a series of wire transfers linked to Manafort that saw offshore companies move more than $3 million (€2.6 million) between 2012 and 2013.
Flagged as suspicious by US financial institutions, some of the 13 transfers Buzzfeed obtained details of involved wires of large sums from Ukraine.
According to the news site, federal law enforcement was aware of such transfers as far back as 2012, when they began investigating whether Manafort committed tax fraud or helped the Ukrainian regime – at the time close to Russian leader Vladimir Putin – launder money.
As the Mueller investigation nears a dramatic new phase, Republican officials and conservative media have increased attacks on Democrats – especially Trump’s former rival Hillary Clinton – which opponents dismiss as blatant attempts to divert attention.
‘So much GUILT’
Trump, in his tweets yesterday, again complained of Clinton’s handling of emails while secretary of state, of Democratic Party funding of what he said was a ‘fake’ dossier on Trump’s background, and of a US sale during the Obama administration of uranium rights to Russia.
“There is so much GUILT by Democrats/Clinton, and now the facts are pouring out. DO SOMETHING!” Trump tweeted.
Trump’s mention of the “fake” dossier appeared to refer to revelations that the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee had funded part of the research by a former British intelligence agent into possible links between Trump, his collaborators, and Russia.
In the uranium case, Russian nuclear energy agency Rosatom sought in 2010 to buy a share in Toronto-based Uranium One, which has mining stakes in the United States. A panel of nine US government agencies, including the State Department, approved the sale, though Clinton says she was “not personally involved”.
White House lawyer Ty Cobb asserted that Trump’s latest tweets were “unrelated to the activities of the Special Counsel, with whom he continues to cooperate,” news media reported.
With © – AFP, 2017
First published 12.19pm
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Nice to see the top cop doing their job, instead of being a yes man for the political class.
@The Risen: that it is . Surprised how that the indictments have been unsealed… Didn’t see any mention of russia but Ukrainian government are certainly mentioned. Seems it’s all to do with Ukraine and not Russia..
Now
@Salvatore Mazzani: Lewendowski didn’t resign actually Trump fired him after he was arrested for assaulting a reporter. But in fairness everything else you said is pretty much bang on.
@Salvatore Mazzani: This might be a bigger problem for trump than it appears. I have my doubts there is much to the collusion angle, at least from Trumps perspective, but I seriously doubt he’d be able to withstand a concerted and vigorous examination of his finances.
To be fair, a lot of rich people couldn’t, it’s half the reason they are rich in a lot of cases. Time will tell but I reckon Trump will be more concerned with the money laundering aspect than the Russia one.
@John Considine: That’s exactly the Point. If anything the reason Trump keeps tweeting about the collusion story it’s because he knows it’s benign. Otherwise he wouldn’t mention it. The guy is petrified that his shady business deals come to light. In any case watch him start to throw associates under the bus now.
@LITTLEONE:
The Ukranian government at that time was closely aligned to Russia. There is an Interpol red notice for the prime minister of the time.
@John and Louis
@LITTLEONE: “it’s all to do with Ukraine and not Russia”
Except the two are inseparable when we’re talking about that time period (2012/2013 and on) as Ukraine was being run by a Russian stooge.
this is just sad. People spent months and years trying to say trump and co colluded with Russia including shady dealings with Putin, one of Trumps best friends.
now this non story comes out with nothing that supports the detractors and now all off sudden they go back to his finances
@Stephen Mc Ginley and Malachi… No doubt about that but this does not mention anything to do with trump campaign or collusion something you would have expected then if you and others are trying to suggest that because of Ukrainian government ties to Russia at the time then somehow this ties into Russian collusion during the election. Is that what you are implying? Not sure what your indicating. Because a lot of people had ties and did business with that Ukrainian government but that doesn’t mean it’s Russian collusion. So this has nothing to do with trump campaign or Russian collusion during the election unless people are trying to suggest that because manafort did business with Ukrainian government who no doubt where closely aligned to Russia during this time period then somehow that ties back to trump now .. please enlighten me. Thanks
@Salvatore Mazzani: Trump should have done his homework then and vetted the people associated with his presidency
@LITTLEONE: Neither of us said that Trump was directly implicated, actually. I am taking issue with your assertion that ‘it’s not to do with Russia’ because the Ukranian govt. is involved.
We need to be clear about this – Ukraine at that time was essentially a vassal state of Russia from what we now know of Yanukovych’s dealings. So the idea that it’s not related to Russia is bogus – it is directly linked to Russia and thus to collusion.
If Manafort was dealing directly with Yanukovych (and getting paid millions by him as Ukranian authorities claim), then he was being influenced by Russia.
Are saying that a man who was allegedly paid $12.7 mil by a Putin stooge, and allegedly contacted by Russian agents during the campaign would have no relevance to the Trump campaign and collusion?
@LITTLEONE:
Manafort’s main dealings were with Yanukovych, who was Putin’s man in Ukraine, so yes, very much to do with Russia.
@Living The Laws: well he just threw manafort under the bus a couple of minutes ago… Squeaky bum time for the big baboon.
@Malachi: directly linked to Russia and collusion… So will expect more indictments to follow… Is that what your suggesting.. so be clear your saying that this was somehow all in the making for collusion with trump campaign and Russia during the election and it’s all connected .
Ok so so does that mean podestas are next ? Because they also worked with this Ukrainian government and got paid and were involved with Clinton campaign.. John podesta so if as your suggesting that because manafort was working with Ukraine government then it’s sure thing that it’s relevant to trump and collusion . Then your surely if the same mind regarding Podesta and Clinton and it’s only right then more indictments follow.
@LITTLEONE: You still a Trump advocate? seriously?
@John Considine: agree , follow the money , manafort bought apt in trump tower in 2006 for couple million dollars and the trumps sons were claiming in 2008 that most of the trump org money was coming from Russia , If manafort has any dirt he will spill rather then face 20 years in jail / I’d say that’s why muller has indicted him first.
@LITTLEONE: Clinton is not the President, why keep bring her up??
The campaign’s foreign policy aide has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI too, still nothing to do with the campaign or Russia though. Look the other way sheeple!
@Louis Jacob:
he threw him under the bus last year before ever he was president. clearly he learnt about Manaforts Ukrainian indiscretions last year and they parted ways.
the test now is whether any of these undisclosed funds were funnelled to Trump and his campaign with their knowledge of the source of the funds. if not then there really is no story here.
@Salvatore Mazzani: The President of the US had as his campaign manager an alleged foreign agent who was allegedly laundering millions.
@LITTLEONE: “so be clear your saying that this was somehow all in the making for collusion with trump campaign and Russia during the election and it’s all connected .”
Didn’t say it was all ‘in the making’, that might be true, I can’t prove that.
If you want to keep your blinders on be my guest, but this case is coming together at a rapid pace. Manafort clearly had no objections about dealing (for shady profit) with Moscow in Ukraine, who’s to say he was completely oblivious as Russia came knocking (which we know they did, with agents and lawyers) when he was Trump campaign manager.
Now that the former foreign policy aide of the Trump campaign has also plead guilty to making false statements to the FBI about contact with the Russian government in 2016, we see a direct link to the campaign. As I said – it’s your choice to keep yourself blindfolded.
@Malachi: Also learned today…The Trump campaign was in regular contact with Russian MFA (Russian spies) in order to get dirt (“thousands” of stolen DNC emails) on Hillary…and this communication was happening a month before the Podesta e-mails were leaked
@Living The Laws:
Are you living in some sort of parallel reality where ‘alternative facts’ are king??
@Living The Laws: is that the bottom of the Trump excuse barrel you just scraped? Thought I heard a noise there.
@Danny Rafferty: you and avina need to lighten up there a little. there is no suggestion that Trump has done anything wrong. they have opened up with a headline of conspiracy against the US because there were two, Manafort and Gates, as opposed to one, conspiring to defraud the IRS of taxes on overseas earnings.
i’m not an apologist for Trump. Simply making sure that the loonies here don’t slip off the left side of the screen riding their bandwagon out of control.
if there was something meaningful in all of this, the GOP and Dems would’ve used it to kick Trump out of the race last year. They didn’t so now they are just keeping the hate for Trump current in people’s minds.
@Living The Laws: last year and earlier this year, Trump campaign was saying that there were absolutely no contacts between the campaign and the Russians, This changed to, yes their were contacts but not on anything to do with “dirt”..now we learn that the campaign was discussing collusion and the refrain now is..everybody does it… what about Clinton?
@Living The Laws:
This is not a ‘non story’ – this is a huge story. It remains to be seen whether or not Trump was personally aware of Manafort’s links to Russia, but the hard evidence for those links is becoming increasingly clear.
@Avina Laaf: thats your opinion and you are entitled to it. it is huge in terms of click throughs and entertainment and ratings
Manafort and Gates activity and charges are commonplace in the US. People or groups of people constantly defraud the IRS of tax revenues.
the other aides (too long to type) activities are of interest as the instruction to giving the guy the job as an Advisor and what his brief was precisely will show if he was directed to do so or was a rogue operative trying to create something that he could turn into value for himself.
what I don’t fully understand is the connection regarding why knowing a Russian is such a huge issue. How and why the Russians are considered to be able to influence a US election is beyond me.
@Diaspora’d: well, maybe the ongoing investigation has thrown up information that the campaign was actually unaware of, or that Trump was unaware of.
Mike Pence is probably watching Truman, Johnson and Ford TV recordings to get a head start on how he should act when he is called to take on the job of POTUS.
@Living The Laws: He shouldn’t have too much trouble beating Trump’s performance.
Trump’s approval rating is at 33%..and that’s with an economy at near full employment, 3% GDP growth, and new & daily DowJones records.
No your alright Malachi and co. My blindfold is well off . Unfortunately I fear it’s more than blindfolds obscuring your vision though. I notice not once have you mentioned that these indictments today for manafort are from a time not when he worked for trump campaign of trump but these indictments are to do with Ukraine and do come at a time he worked with the podesta group ..Which is quite interesting considering the Podesta brothers also had dealings with Ukraine and I wonder will more indictments follow with them also being investigated. Coincidentally Tony Podesta resigned today from the Podesta group in light of the group being under investigation by. Mueller. Maybe it’s not trump that’s concerned but the Podestas.
@LITTLEONE: Why are you completely ignoring the Papadopoulos charges?
Do you really think that if you pretend it isn’t in the article, it will just disappear?
“The Papadopoulos indictment was the sharpest evidence yet of possible collusion between the campaign and Russia just as Moscow was revving up its covert operation to steer the election in Trump’s favor.”
Russia is mentioned several times in respect of Papadopoulos. Ukraine (Russian stooges) for Manafort. Russia re Papa.
Seriously it’s really strange to pretend that Russia isn’t mentioned.
@LITTLEONE:
Read this.
Papadopoulos was a Trump advisor. He tried to collude with Russia and he’s just plead guilty to lying to the FBI about it.
This is the Trump campaign colluding.
Then lying.
@Brinster: I never ignored the Papadopoulos charges. He lied to the FBI so will deserve anything he gets. I was responding to people in regards to the manafort and gates indictments… As for Papadopoulos brinster it’s also well reported the trump campaign rebuffed him on many occasions in regards to Russia. There’s nothing new there…he was arrested months ago . The Washington Post reported back in August that Papadopoulos attempted to set up several meetings with Russia and all were rejected by Trump’s camp.
The adviser, George Papadopoulos, offered to set up “a meeting between us and the Russian leadership to discuss US-Russia ties under President Trump,” telling them his Russian contacts welcomed the opportunity, according to internal campaign emails read to The Washington Post.
The proposal sent a ripple of concern through campaign headquarters in Trump Tower. Campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis wrote that he thought NATO allies should be consulted before any plans were made. Another Trump adviser, retired Navy Rear Adm. Charles Kubic, cited legal concerns, including a possible violation of U.S. sanctions against Russia and of the Logan Act, which prohibits U.S. citizens from unauthorized negotiation with foreign governments.So again I reiterate what I said about manafort…. Especially with latest news coming out of states.
Sources: Podesta Group, Mercury Are Companies ‘A’ and ‘B’ in Indictment
WASHINGTON — The lobbying firms the Podesta Group and Mercury Public Affairs are the unnamed companies in the grand jury indictment of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, according to three sources with knowledge of the investigation.
The indictment, unsealed Monday, refers to “Company A” and “Company B” as the firms Manafort and Gates solicited in 2012 to lobby on behalf of the Ukranian government. Company A is Mercury Public Affairs and Company B is the Podesta Group, the sources said.
The revelation of the companies’ identities points to more details about the players involved in the high-stakes venture run by Manafort and Gates to push the interest of a pro-Russia Ukranian political party inside the United States. It also provides a glimpse into the material special prosecutor Robert Mueller has corroborated on both companies and the potential legal repercussions both groups could face.
https://t.co/Vr70dRJmUd?amp=1
Washington post link brinster. Not fan of them myself but keep being told their reputable so sure you find it fine
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-campaign-emails-show-aides-repeated-efforts-to-set-up-russia-meetings/2017/08/14/54d08da6-7dc2-11e7-83c7-5bd5460f0d7e_story.html?utm_term=.e8b35916292d
@Living The Laws:
He has been charged with conspiracy against the United States – that’s an extremely rare and serious charge for anybody to be facing, never mind a close confidante of a sitting president.
I’m not sure what part of that you’re not getting.
@LITTLEONE: Your first post on this story said “no mention of Russia”. Neither of the first two posts you were responding to mentioned Manafort.
At the time Papadop was meeting Russians, he was a Trump campaign advisor. A member of the Foreign Policy team. You don’t need every single mender of the campaign team to meet the Russians.
You just need one.
They colluded.
@Avina Laaf
did you even read the interpretation of that charge that i posted earlier? it is used in this case to address the issue of the two lads colluding to defraud the IRS. and the actual events that are being investigated, and that the charge relates to, happened 4 years ago and have nothing to do with the campaign.
@Brinster: “they colluded”
to do what exactly? defraud the IRS. thats why it is considered to conspire against the US.
if you have any other information on what they colluded on, or as you infer, what they colluded with the campaign on, then please share.
otherwise………
@Brinster: not sure why your fibbing but it seems you are… First 2 comments I responded too. First one wasn’t specific on anything. Second one only mentioned manafort to which I replied. It seems your being very selective and picky for some reason. Why God knows. Now I am being told what I should say in responses is that brinster. Although those I replied too never mentioned Papadopoulos at all.
Nice to see the top cop doing their job, instead of being a yes man for the political class.
371
Salvatore Mazzani
7hours ago
@The Risen:
True.
Important to keep things in perspective though.
Long before joining Trump’s campaign Manafort had extensive business ties to Ukraine, where he represented prominent pro-Moscow figures. He only assumed the reins when Corey Lewansdowski resigned.
Trump never bonded with Manafort. He fired him after 5 months.
Mueller will try to pressure Manafort to flip and testify about the inner workings of the Trump administration. So far there is no indication that Manafort is playing ball.
93
LITTLEONE
1y
7hours ago
@The Risen: that it is . Surprised how that the indictments have been unsealed… Didn’t see any mention of russia but Ukrainian government are certainly mentioned. Seems it’s all to do with Ukraine and not Russia..
Now brinster this in response to manafort not Papadopoulos. If someone had if mentioned Papadopoulos to me I would have given my reply but the comments I replied too were all in relation to manafort
@Diaspora’d:
he would turn everything around to focus on creationism. hes a full on nutjob. and the fall back the extreme right in the GOP would love to see happen. and he would get the support of anyone who believes in fairies at the bottom of the garden.
@Brinster: Trump had as CAMPAIGN MANAGER a man who is now being indicted for [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]. The money is linked to Russia.
This is who Trump had as campaign manager
Brinster when you start off your comment making accusations and lies about me. Word of warning maybe read the comments first … Just an idea..
How you could even say
@LITTLEONE: Your first post on this story said “no mention of Russia”. Neither of the first two posts you were responding to mentioned Manafort.
When clearly at the start of these comments is second comment
Salvatore Mazzani
7hours ago
@The Risen:
True.
Important to keep things in perspective though.
Long before joining Trump’s campaign Manafort had extensive business ties to Ukraine, where he represented prominent pro-Moscow figures. He only assumed the reins when Corey Lewansdowski resigned.
Trump never bonded with Manafort. He fired him after 5 months.
Mueller will try to pressure Manafort to flip and testify about the inner workings of the Trump administration. So far there is no indication that Manafort is playing ball.
93
Which maybe your having problems today brinster clearly mentions manafort and my comment is next reply.
Seriously brinster.
Something wrong with u today?
In fact brinster since your on one tonight. Not one person who responded to me today mentioned Papadopoulos above. It was all to do with manafort. Which if you had took the time to read instead of going off on one . You might have noticed but guessing that’s too much for you. Notice when you asked about Papadopoulos I answered you. Since none of those that replied too me mentioned him .
@LITTLEONE: Hannity says you’re wrong about the Manafort relationship. Also, you left out why he was fired. Hint: nothing to do with his relationship with Trump and a lot to do with Russia.
@LITTLEONE: The arrest of the president’s campaign chairman amid a foreign collusion probe is about as much smoke as you need to say that there is a fire and that there was a level of Russian collusion with the presidents election campaign. Also the list of Trump people who met with Russians and lied about it ..Donald Jr., Kushner, Manafort, Sessions, Papadopoulos, Flynn…why did they all lie about contacts with Russia?
@Dave O Keeffe: not sure what your on about so maybe post a link or actually say what your trying to say . Are you saying you believe what Sean hannity is saying is that it? Because I haven’t seen what he said today so can you fill me in . Thanks
@Diaspora’d: : was he arrested and indicted today for collusion between trump campaign and Russia?
Do any charges unsealed today mention trump or the campaign?
Simple yes or no will do. Don’t need you on a rant or hearsay .
Because everything you said is just rabble at this moment in time since no where in manaforts indictment charges does it even mention trump .
Brinster if your reading he mentioned manafort so I am responding on that
@LITTLEONE: Hannity, a friend of Donald Trump’s has said Trump and Manafort had a very good relationship. The only reason he was fired was because of his dodgy business dealings with the Russian puppet government in Ukraine. Any reason other than that is a lie.
@LITTLEONE: Trump had this man acting as his “campaign manager”, a man who lied at every turn about his links and dealings with Russia, a man compromised by money linked to Russia. Special Federal prosecutions like this have a 93% conviction rate. Looks so bad for Trump and we haven’t heard the last of it. What Popodopoulos is now going to reveal will make Trump’s election campaign dealings look worse, did the Feds make him wear a wiretap since they first confronted him, what bargain did he make to let him plead guilty so early ?
@Dave O Keeffe: sure that’s been known for quite awhile. That’s hardly a bombshell. It’s been said few places today manafort was being investigated quite awhile now before Mueller investigation and it’s was basically transferred into Mueller investigation. If your believing hannity Dave. Then trump fired manafort because of his dodgy dealings with Ukraine. Isn’t that suggesting trump distanced himself from manafort after these allegations became known. Isn’t that what most people would do if it had nothing to do with them. Since manafort was working with Podestas in Ukraine at that time. I am more inclined to believe this is more to do with them than trump especially since they are also under investigation and Tony Podesta resigned today because of Mueller investigation. Time will tell if any more indictments follow.
@Diaspora’d: So you ranted instead of answering on manaforts indictments today. No surprise there.
As for Papadopoulos he was arrested months ago and had plea bargain so what transpires from that. I don’t know and neither do you. It’s just speculation on your part. Since you can’t even see what the indictments today we’re about. Don’t hold out much hope for you. But wish you luck on your dreaming.
@LITTLEONE:
In fairness Littleone, on my phone it came up as The Risen’s post first (no mention of Manafort) and then a one line reply which didn’t mention him either.
The App can switch replies/responses around (at least on Android). I can now see that you were responding to Salvatore but what you said was still incorrect.
@LITTLEONE: Let’s see..Papadopoulos has pleaded to making False Statements so that he wouldn’t have to face to greater charges and could cooperate with the FBI. He was the campaign’s top adviser and the campaign’s primary policy liaison to other nations like Russia.
Manafort lied to the FBI while he was Trump’s Campaign Manager and used his illegal Putin-linked funds to work for Trump “for free.” Trump’s campaign was the direct beneficiary saving millions in consulting fees (that Manafort got from Russia.) I really dont know how much more damning for Trump it could be.
@LITTLEONE: Trump fired Manafort when it became publicly known that he had dodgy dealings with Russia. Yet the Trump family already knew about these dealings as their foreign policy aide had been telling them for months, oh and a family member was even at a meeting with what they believed were Kremlin linked people, Manafort and Papadopoulos. Yet he was only fired when the dodgy links became public. Which would lead someone to think maybe his offense was getting caught. Also, I’m glad the Podesta is being investigated. I don’t like lobbyists.
@Brinster: in fairness brinster then maybe you shouldn’t make accusations which accuses someone of something that is blatant false… I am on android too brinster funny that… So you could see my reply to Salvatore where he clearly mentions manafort . Mmmm brinster. But you still made false accusation. Funny that . So what did I say was incorrect in regards manafort?
Considering I said this.
Surprised how that the indictments have been unsealed… Didn’t see any mention of russia but Ukrainian government are certainly mentioned. Seems it’s all to do with Ukraine and not Russia..
@LITTLEONE: you said that while knowing that dealing with Ukraine at the time was dealing with Russia.
@Dave O Keeffe:. Sure Dave if you say so. Fact is he was fired and these indictments today are nothing to do with trump or trump’s campaign as much as people are trying to suggest. His dirty dealing has been found out and rightly so if he is guilty faces whatever comes his way. . As for the meeting if you are on about the Natalia Veselnitskaya meeting .. ok so. Think we both know lot more to that .
Now not running away but really have to go. So bid you all good night. Sure we will pick this up again sometime as sure more will transpire in coming days
@Dave O Keeffe: yet Dave.. that was done at time when he didn’t work with trump or campaign but with the Podesta group among others. Isn’t that true Dave. Years before trump campaign nearly a decade I believe.
Now goodnight Dave
@LITTLEONE: on rapid fire mode again? #rattled
@LITTLEONE: “But you still made false accusation.”
Rubbish.
Your very first comment said “Didn’t see any mention of russia”
The word Russia or Russian is mentioned no fewer that 14 TIMES in the Papadopoulos section of this story alone.
What you said was blatantly incorrect.
You’ve since tried to spin this several ways, claiming this was already known.
It wasn’t.
The story that Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI’s Russia Investigation came out today.
One of Trump’s senior circle lied about Russian contact. Not Ukrainian contact.
@LITTLEONE: my point was that when you said it was nothing to do with Russia you knew that it definitely involved Russia just not during the campaign. Also, the meeting with the lawyer? Wasn’t Papadopoulos there? With Manafort? Trump Jr? And a Kremlin linked lawyer claiming to have lots of dirt on Hillary? Fascinating.
@LITTLEONE: like..”He was already an experienced criminal before I hired him” …. interesting defense.
@LITTLEONE: For someone that believes any old conspiracy theory you seem to have a hard time accepting the blatantly obvious. Also, I find it hard to believe that English is your first language.
@The Risen: There is nothing in the charges about Russia, the indictments are about him and Ukraine…
@LITTLEONE: you really don’t have much of a clue to be fair – I’ve read your comments and honestly – you are just full of shit
@LITTLEONE: you really don’t have much of a clue to be fair – I’ve read your comments and honestly – you are just full of shit …..ill defer to the expertise and track record of Robert Muller and see how he builds a case…you might be very disappointed at how effective he might be uncovering Trump financials – but then I don’t expect you to have the depth or substance to understand whats really going on – you seem more of a shallow trump fan boy that doesn’t really grasp things to be honest
But Hillary’s email…. LMAO! Christmas is coming early.
@Robert Jones Smith: Insulting people is not ‘trolling’. Thats just being an a**hole.
@Andy K: The other day, Phil told a guy on here that he hopes his daughter gets sexually assaulted. I reckon that’s much worse than calling someone a doofus. I think you’d agree.
@Philip Gerard: She was busy selling Uranium to Russia…
@Alois Irlmaier: You silly billy.There was 10 people that signed off on that sale of uranium to the Canadian company,was Hillary Clinton one of them ?
The Pro-Trump goons on The Journal will be along soon to defend the honour of their Cheetah Jesus.
@Cultural Marxist: Troll farms will be tripling production today.
@Cultural Marxist: take it you didn’t read the indictments before you made a comment… Seems not one mention of either trump campaign or trump or Russia to be seen.. it’s all to do with Ukraine…..
@LITTLEONE: no matter how much you try to deflect, your orange messiah is in deep sh!te
@LITTLEONE: To be exact his ties to were the former “Russian” puppet Yanukovych. And the Russians have a long history of using puppets to do their dirty their dirty work.
@Mick Jordan: the americans are the puppet masters no matter what
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: try and deflect.. lol. Maybe you should read the indictments before you claim deflection because there is no deflection. They clearly set out what he is being charged with. Please show me how this means trump is in deep white. Thanks because you obviously know.
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus:
Read the indictment. No matter how much you want it to be, it’s not related to the 2016 campaign.
@Thought for Food: amazing that people are that trump fixated that they jump before actually reading. With these indictments I would say podestas are more inclined to be in firing line than trump considering manafort I think worked with them during this time period and they are also being investigated…
@Thought for Food: says 11 mins old account :) LOL
@LITTLEONE: keep telling yourself that little one , if you don’t believe that this is from mullers investigation and part of the process to try get to Russia / trump connections then you are clueless. Are you aware of exactly what manafort was doing with Ukraine ? Are you unable to join the dots or do you need some help ??
@LITTLEONE: LOL… Even Fox are reporting that it has to do with the Russian collusion probe. Something else, per FOX – “a guilty plea by former Trump campaign policy adviser George Papadopolous was announced by Mueller. He admitted to making false statements to FBI agents as part of the investigation. ”
Notice the qualifier “Trump campaign policy adviser. Now run along. The rest of us are having a barbecue as Trumpland burns.
@Philip Gerard: a foreign policy adviser no less
@Philip Gerard: Perfectly timed announcement allowing the WH just enough time to dismiss the Manafort thing as having nothing to do with Russia before body slamming them with Popadopolus having plead guilty… absolutely beautiful work…
@Thought for Food: it is related now….
Domino effect going to happen.
@Ossi Fritsche: Damn right… it doesn’t matter if this guy is charged with stealing sweets as a kid… they’ll use it to get him to turn on the higher ups….
@Ossi Fritsche: The charging of Manafort is a definite case of burying the lead and right now it looks like the dominos might start falling faster than we could have expected even this morning.
Papadopoulos has plead guilty to “Making False Statements” which carries a 5 year term. But as those false statements were made to the FBI during a criminal investigation then he must have been open to “Obstruction of Justice” charges as well, which carry a 20 year term. The FBI frequently leverage this latter charge to force co-operation. I wonder what he’s told them to get the 15 years knocked off?
@John Considine: just read that the fine can be as low as $900 and jail term of a couple of weeks if they lessen the charge in return for the gossip.
@Living The Laws: gossip? More like evidence. You really think the FBI will reduce the charge for anything that doesn’t give someone higher up a big problem?
But her email. Hahahahahahahahahahahaah
lock him up lock him up. Lock him up.
Ps to all the trumpians Muller is a republician , appointed by a republican special council , appointed to the fbi by a republician called BUSH.
Tick to tick to trump
@Niall O’Tuama: lulz
Manafort worked for Podesta ;)
@Anton Friendo: lols Podesta didn’t run for president
@Dave O Keeffe: the Russians ate my laptop
@Anton Friendo: That’s an achievement. Your search history would be tough to digest
@Dave O Keeffe: Boom boom!
I’m getting me popcorn!!
It’s all Obama’s fault. Blame Obama.
Trump would never, ever lie.
@Ron North: U WERE NEVER IN KENYA I BET,,
Paul Manafort should just take a note out of Kevin Spacey’s book and come out as gay then the headlines will ignore everything else.
It seems trump junior will be charged in the new year and get jail for treason. Donald apparently will be along soon after. Kushner and trump junior have gone very media shy lately. Can’t wait
@Paul O Riordan: it apparently seems like you love wishful thinking!
@Robert Emmett Birrell: only time will tell my friend but I think today could be the beginning of the end for the family trump
@Robert Emmett Birrell: within an hour of you posting his wishes starting to come true
My bugger concern is the role of Robert Mercer and other US billionaires as well as sponsors of UKIP and Cambridge Analytica in the effective weaponizing of Social Media in favour of Donald Trump and against the other Presudential candidates.
@Fiona deFreyne: My bug concern is your spulling Tony.
@Fiona deFreyne: My “bugger” concern is your spelling and grammar.
@Cathal Jenkinson: Jinx!
@Cathal Jenkinson: it is understandable that “bugger” has caused confusion, I should have typed “bigger”. My sincere apologies to those previously unable to decipher the intended meaning.
@Fiona deFreyne: everyone else knew what you meant Fiona.
@Fiona deFreyne:
Nobody can decipher what you mean at the best of times, how are you today after Mark Humphries handed you back your arse on a plate on the last Halawa article? Lol
@Remy: if Mark Humphrys is so important to you why can’t you spell his name? PS Humphrys fudges statistics.
Chris Christie and Trump, a snapshot of America today, to borrow from the man himself – SAD.
According to this article at least the charges are based on events that took place in 2012/3. The campaign was 2015/6.
@Joe Caulfield: According to this article He was also being investigated for the 2012/13 transfers alongside the Russia probe. We have no Idea as of yet what the charges are. They may be related to the earlier instances as holding charges
@Joe Caulfield: Yes but it is likely that Muellers plan is to use charges from 2012/13 as leverage to get Manafort to reveal secerts relating to collusion during the 2016 presidential campaign.
One of the charges is “conspiracy against the United States” that sounds pretty bad.
@Dave O Keeffe: i assume you have figured out that its a standard term when one or more collaborate to defraud the IRS. it is perfect clickbait for such stories.
@Living The Laws: so, charged for their work with Russian puppets and that’s all you’ve got? Anything on the aide that pleaded guilty? Why did he lie?
@Joe Caulfield: Wrong. His adviser pleaded guilty to making false statements and he was being investigated for collusion while on the campaign staff, sooooooo……
@Philip Gerard: Wrong Philip. Papadopoulos was not Maniforts advisor and the connection began before he (Papadopoulos) joined the campaign.
@Joe Caulfield: I think he meant Trump’s adviser
@Dave O Keeffe: He’s too fnstupid to know the difference.
Dear journal when you quote media outlets such as buzzfeed you really show you’re political agenda, Love Paul
@Paul Hughes: *your
What will it take to finally get this dangerous and deluded fool impeached?
@Johnnie Sexton: Monica Lewinsky?
@The Risen: so all he needs to do is have an affair and lie to bunch of muppets in Congress… get real lad in fairness.
This is probably just about his undeclared work
@Dave O Keeffe: not anymore!
Trump can simply pardon Manafort, like he did Sheriff Joe, the racial profiler.
@alphanautica: As far as I know he can’t pardon him unless he’s convicted by which time many cats should have left many bags.
@alphanautica:
You mean pardon the sheriff that demonstrably drove down crime rates significantly, which was his job, by going after illegal immigrants that were causing spikes in criminality in his district?
God forbid he’d pardon someone for doing the job they were hired to do.
@alphanautica: won’t be that straightforward , manafort could face 20years in jail and spill beans on trumps finances , he will get impeached if there’s dirt and he try’s to pardon it away , similar to when Nixon was saying it can’t be illegal if the president does it !
@Thought for Food: in a state that was Mexico 150 years ago targeting Brown people is stupid.
@Thought for Food: also, he was ordered by a court to stopped and refused, a sheriff cannot defy a court order.
@Thought for Food: “You mean pardon the sheriff that demonstrably drove down crime rates significantly, which was his job, by going after illegal immigrants that were causing spikes in criminality in his district?”
Thoughtless is giving us more of his ‘alternative facts’ .Who’d thunk it ,eh?
@Francis Devenney: actually he can pardon anyone at any point in a investigation, even before a person is even charged (which seems strange). Pardoning people might go against him. If someone cannot be indicted for a crime, they can’t use the 5th at a later point if they are subpoenaed.
@WinSomeLoseSome: never thought of that. Good point
“The charges do not relate to activity during the election campaign.”
@Daniel Doran: On Manafort, no. On Papadopolous, yes, and he plead guilty to lying already.
According to the update @ approx 01:30 it has nothing to do with 2016.
I will read 31 page doc later tonight.
@Joe Caulfield: don’t bother, Breitbart will summarise for you. You should look into the foreign policy aide though.
@Dave O Keeffe: There will no doubt be some fake meme that Joe will have found online by then..#joelovesfakenews
So basically a grand total of zip against Trump.
On first read of 31 pages it,all mostly personal finance . Even the conspiracy against us is personel finance in nature.
@Joe Caulfield: 31 pages in 20 minutes, fair play. What of the aide?
@Dave O Keeffe: The aide should have told the truth from the beginning. The solicitation came from a Russian professor.
@Joe Caulfield: solicitation? Professor? He pleaded guilty to lying about Kremlin connections.
@Dave O Keeffe: The Russian professor initiated the connection.
@Joe Caulfield: you know that doesn’t actually matter at all right? Anything other than immediately saying “no, go away” is an offence. Instead the aide tried to arrange Kremlin meetings.
@Joe Caulfield: also, are you saying he had no Russian connections before being appointed to the campaign?
@Joe Caulfield: also, I never knew Putin’s niece was a professor. The aide met several Kremlin linked people over an extensive amount of time and attempted to get other members of the campaign to meet them. I’d suggest that one of those meetings happened in July 2016 in Trump Tower
@Dave O Keeffe: Who initiated the correspondence makes all the difference. No collusion. Lying to the FBI is another matter.
@Dave O Keeffe: Precisely. The connection was initiated before he joined the campaign.
@Joe Caulfield: you can’t have it both ways. Did he know the professor before the campaign or not until during the campaign? Why wasn’t he arranging meetings at Trump Tower? Why was that done by Trump’s Russian friends?
@Joe Caulfield: you know that it actually doesn’t matter who initiates the connection. You’re just lying to yourself.
WE need a Robert Mueller in Ireland .
@Anthony Gallagher: Banks would not allow that.
@Damien Wallanger:
Mueller is a Republican and was appointed by Bush you muppet!
This was going on for years, it did not just begin when Trump announced he was running for Election, so all the the sick Liberals out there can forget about President Trump being impeached,
Nothing to see here, move along
Trump hopefully will be found out and impeached.
@gerry fallon: and who is next in line? Some one ten times worse, thinks being gay is an illness, the planet is only 4000 years old….
Surely Trump would not have pursued the objectivity of the Presidency at all costs and by all or any means possible!
More divide and conquer, whataboutery and left & right paradigms riding people their legs.
Trump=Clinton=Merkel=Farage=May=Obama.
Mafioso statist swampmonsters one and all.
And people keep picking their fav swampmonsters and off they go in hype parades singing hallelujah and praise for their mafioso messiah and letting themselves get riled up against their neighbours who worship another Mafioso messiah.
After centuries still massively effective.
Vote more and harder people!more praise and blind adoration for the maffioso of your choice and all shall be well.
@neilo: I can’t be held responsible for the perceptions, thoughts and feelings of others unfortunately. Was meant as obvious and blunt, not patronising.
People figuratively, virtually and literally killing eachother over who has the best messiah and believe/control system tends to worry and sadden me as a person in ways. If that makes me a nutwing, so be it.
Trump will plead “trumped up” charges.
@LITTLEONE: are you keeping up with the news today little one ??
The Trump campaign advisor flips…..
Papadopoulos revealed his attempts to communicate with Russian connected officials after he was confronted for giving the FBI false information.
Papadopoulos also admitted that he communicated with a “high-ranking campaign official” about meeting with Putin and Russian connected officials and improving ties with the campaign.
If we had a special prosecutor here, Mountjoy would be full of TDs.
#fakenews #sad
Papadopoulos – better get used to that name. He’s going to sing like a canary.
Manafort, being top adviser to the ex Ukranian Kremlin puppet and Trump will say I didn’t know all this? lol
Trump can certainly pick them.
Drain the swamp, pffffft…. he is the swamp.
Mr trump you are a bozo a lier and it will all come out soon good luck getting him out of the job
All just a political game….If Hillary had won there would be a special prosecutor investigating the Russian Uranium sale…CNN would be saying she was not involved as would most journal comments…. Fox would be saying she should be impeached…..If God forbid SF were in next government….Nobody would support a special prosecutor to investigate everyone Gerry Adams knew or was involved with over last 40 years….Or if he was involved in anything illegal….
@John003: Look, over there
@John003: funny thing is she didn’t win and the uranium is still where it was before the deal
@John003: Hilary didn’t win. No need to discuss hypotheticals
Here’s a great link from the BBC explaining who’s who in this saga
@LITTLEONE: if podesta committed a crime..lock him up. Who cares. It doesn’t make trump innocent. you are completely ignoring the other arrest. Who has made a deal with the investigation. The fact you don’t mention it speaks volume.
makes you wonder about our own,willie o’dee lying in his avdavis,lowery take money for phone license but if the people vote for them sure thats grand!
no its not ffs a crime is a crime
Ben: that was uncalled for ,
I wonder if Trump was the knowing or unknowing beneficiary of a cheating campaign for the US Presidency.
Like Watergate, it will be slow drip of evidence and lies which will get president Crazypants in the end.
In the interim, I’m relishing the cognitive dissonance of the alt-right fanbois and formerly priapic MAGA keyboard warriors detumesce as the orange baboon implodes.
Tsar Putin must be laughing.
@DJ François: The problem is they are mixing up Ukraine and Russia here…
I pick the best people, the very best people. And I don’t brag, I never brag even though a lot of people tell me I’m tremendous, very tremendous, at picking people. I have people, very fine people, all around me. You know it. Very nice people.
People always ask me about Manafort, It’s fantastic. Let me tell you about Manafort. I did very well with Manafort. I love Manafort. No one loves Manafort more than me, BELIEVE ME. Manafort loves me. He knows it. Ask him. I’m having a big speech about him. A huge speech.
have your say