And still unexplained is the Republican party platform change in regards to Ukraine. Just a quick Google says it was in the Steele dossier: POLITICS Explosive memos suggest that a Trump-Russia quid pro quo was at the heart of the GOP's dramatic shift on Ukraine The dossier's claim about a Ukraine-WikiLeaks quid pro quo alleges that Trump would refrain from speaking forcefully, if at all, during the 2016 presidential campaign about Russia's 2014 incursion into eastern Ukraine. In return, Russia would provide WikiLeaks the documents it stole from the Democratic National Committee. Throughout the campaign, Trump broke from traditional GOP orthodoxy and established himself as the most sympathetic Republican candidate toward Russia, stressing a need to work with the country on various geopolitical issues. http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-gop-policy-ukraine-wikileaks-dnc-2017-1
Wonder what they'll be charged with. Assume financial crimes at 1st blush. Rick Gates is the other person. Worked on campaign too.
Mueller's plan isn't to send Manafort to prison forever, it's to get him to cough up bigger fish. Let's be serious. Manafort was the campaign manager to Donald Trump's campaign. And he's been indicted by the special prosecutor investigating collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. If this were only financial crimes, Mueller would have likely turned that over to the FBI to handle.
I should have been more clear. On a scale of 1-100, Manafort's indictment is an 80. Flynn would have been an 85. Kushner a 95. All really exciting, but we all kind knew Manafort was coming.
In Trump's own 2011 book, Time to Get Tough, Trump said: "Putin has big plans for Russia. He wants to edge out its neighbors so that Russia can dominate oil supplies to all of Europe. Putin has also announced his grand vision: the creation of a 'Eurasian Union' made up of former Soviet nations that can dominate the region." BREAKING: Special Counsel: Ex-Trump campaign chairman indicted on conspiracy against the US, money laundering, other charges.— The Associated Press (@AP) October 30, 2017 Not just Manafort but Rick Gates the lobbyist for Russian interests who might turn out to be the link that really blows this up. He was working for Trump even after Manafort left. He was in the white house, probably still helping to ensure the Russian agenda is being carried out as last as March if I am reading this correctly. Some say summer but that's speculation. Today is the beginning of the end.
I was hoping for Kushner first. Just imagine the Panic in the White House. Mueller likes to build it up though.
Still big shoe to drop. Who changed position on Ukraine in platform and why did Republican establishment allow it?
Has that "conspiracy against the US" charge been confirmed? For me that would be the biggest news. Makes it harder for right wing propaganda (they still will try) to claim that these people are being rounded up for traffic tickets. The even bigger question now is at what point does Mueller make a public statement to congress. Is this a milestone, the final destinstion or yet to be determined pending more investigation?
Given how little attention Trump pays to details, it'd be very easy to see Manafort suggesting it, Kushner giving it the green light without asking why, and nobody big any the wiser. That's not the big question. The big question is what Paul Manafort promised the Russians for whom he was laundering money when he became campaign manager.
This is conspiracy to defraud the US Treasury. Not conspiracy to undermine the US or anything like that. But since we take tax evasion seriously, it has a long, hefty sentence. Moreover, any of Manafort's wealth will be confiscated, meaning his planned inheritance will be zero. He's gonna go for a plea deal to help out his kids, IMO.
Go soft on Russia, we'll give you $$ and Hillary dirt. June Trump Tower meeting. If you win you ease the sanctions
The Ukrainian-Manafort-Trump syndicate This Brussels-based organization was a Kremlin front operated by Gates and Manafort - which employed many others in its PR scheme. pic.twitter.com/OgTAmCRdTw— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) October 30, 2017
I'm impressed at how resilient right wing propaganda is today. They take it in stride without blinking. They've already decided that the next shoe to drop is someone in Clinton camp. Just like when that email chain was exposed showing actual evidence, the following week the polls didn't move at all. I'll be shocked if Trump approval drops 1% by next week ... He's at 37% today which is tied for the low point in his presidency. There's been so little movement in his numbers in recent months that I assume this is his floor. That 37% will engage in altetnate reality propaganda permanently, completely detached from unfolding events.
Yes, 37% is the bottom, unless the economy tanks. In which case the bottom will be considerably less, because faith in The Leader tends to be shaken when jobs aren't available.
i think there's a strong possibility that it was Manafort's doing. The interesting thing about the switch to the Ukraine platform plank is that it was so substantively unimportant. Party platforms in the US are essentially meaningless in general - nobody pays much attention to them, and they don't have much impact on anything. That irrelevance is the answer to the question of "why did the Republican establishment allow it." So, if platforms are insignificant, why bother to intervene to change one? Maybe because the audience for that change was Russian, and was not necessarily aware that US political party platforms are insignificant. If you're trying to prove your usefulness to a Russian paymaster while not attracting undue attention, engineering a pro-Russia change in your political party's platform might be just the thing.