Manafort tampers with a witness, Mueller wants him jailed...

Mueller Accuses Paul Manafort of Attempted Witness Tampering

Federal prosecutors on Monday accused President Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, of attempting to tamper with witnesses in his federal tax and lobbying case.

In court documents, prosecutors working for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, said that Mr. Manafort tried to contact witnesses by phone and through an encrypted messaging program.

Prosecutors said that was a violation of Mr. Manafort’s release while he awaits trial. They asked a federal judge to revise the terms of his release or revoke it entirely, which would send him to jail until trial.

An F.B.I. agent, Brock W. Domin, wrote in court documents that at least one witness reported Mr. Manafort’s contact and said that he appeared to be trying to coach their story about Mr. Manafort’s lobbying practices.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/04/us/politics/paul-manafort-mueller-witness-tampering.html



Gee, I guess he must be kinda worried about getting a pardon from Trump. Now, he's screwed...        figuratively speaking, of course. Gosh, this is fun to watch!

Both Manafort and Stone probably believe they're untouchable because of this:

The Slickest Shop in Town

By Evan Thomas Monday, Mar. 03, 1986


"A lobbyist can perform no greater favor for a lawmaker than to help get him elected. It is the ultimate political IOU, and it can be cashed in again and again. No other firm holds more of this precious currency than the Washington shop known as Black, Manafort.

Legally, there are two firms. Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly, a lobbying operation, represents Bethlehem Steel, the Tobacco Institute, Herbalife, Angolan "Freedom Fighter" Jonas Savimbi and the governments of the Bahamas and the Philippines. Black, Manafort, Stone & Atwater, a political-consulting firm, has helped elect such powerful Republican politicians as Senator Phil Gramm of Texas and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Jesse Helms.

The political credentials of the partners are imposing. Charles Black, 38, was a top aide to Senator Robert Dole and the senior strategist for President Reagan's re-election campaign in 1984. Paul Manafort, 36, was the political director of the 1984 G.O.P. national convention. Roger Stone, 33, was the Eastern regional campaign director for Reagan in 1984 and is now one of Congressman Jack Kemp's chief political advisers. Peter Kelly, 48, was finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1981 to 1985. Lee Atwater, 34, was Reagan's deputy campaign manager in 1984 and is now Vice President George Bush's chief political adviser. Alone among the firm's partners, Atwater sticks to advising electoral candidates and does not lobby.

The partners of Black, Manafort say that the lobbying and political- consulting functions are kept separate. "It's like a grocery store and a hardware store," insists Black. "You can't buy eggs at a hardware store and you can't buy tires at the grocery." Yet these are but fine distinctions in Washington, where the firm is considered one of the most ambidextrous in the business, the ultimate supermarket of influence peddling. "You are someone's political adviser, then you sell yourself to a corporation by saying you have a special relationship with Congress," says Democratic Media Consultant Robert Squier, who does no lobbying himself. Is it proper to get a politician elected, then turn around and lobby him? "It's a gray area," sidesteps Squier. Charges Fred Wertheimer, president of the public-interest lobbying group Common Cause: "It's institutionalized conflict of interest."

It certainly is good for business. The partners charge six-figure fees to lobby and six-figure fees to manage election campaigns. As a result, they take home six-figure salaries. (Their stated aim is to make $450,000 apiece each year; they are assumed to have achieved it last year.) They unabashedly peddle their access to the Reagan Administration. The firm's proposal soliciting the Bahamas as a client, for instance, touted the "personal relationships between State Department officials and Black, Manafort & Stone" that could be "utilized to upgrade a backchannel relationship in the economic and foreign policy spheres."..."

http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,960803-1,00.html

(See site for page 2)

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This whole administration is starting to look like a script The Sopranos passed up because they figured the audience wouldn't suspend their disbelief enough.

And meanwhile Trump's getting away with it because his idiot followers don't even care what happens to the U.S. because they've been snookered into caring more about what happens to Trump. They're like battered wives protecting the husband who beats 'em, out of some weird I-think-I-don't-deserve-better Stockholm Syndrome. Hell, they decided before facts were even coming in and indictments were being made that the whole Russia thing was just some scam Democrats came up with. They made up their minds what they were going to think on day one and they've clung to it like blind idiots, and, oddly, they expect to be regarded as rational adults by the rest of us.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/06/trump-russia-scandal-media/

With his “no collusion” chant, Trump is like an embezzler who yells, “There was no murder”—and asserts that is the only relevant benchmark. Think of what Trump did during the campaign in this fashion: A fellow is standing on a sidewalk in front of a bank. He is told the bank is being robbed. He can see armed men wearing masks in the bank. Yet when people pass by and ask what is happening in the bank, he says, “There is no robbery. Nothing to see. Move along.” Even if this person did not collude with the robbers, he is helping the gang perpetrate a crime. And in Trump’s case, the criminal act was committed for his gain.

Much of the media framing of the Russia scandal has followed Trump’s lead and adopted his collusion-centric perspective. The debate, such as it is, has become whether Trump directly collaborated with Moscow’s covert operation—and whether Trump, as president, tried to thwart the investigation and obstruct justice. The story is not driven by the serious offenses already established: Trump and his associates encouraged and assisted an attack from a foreign foe.

In this ongoing fight, it is Trump and his bumper stickers versus a media presenting a wide variety of disparate disclosures that come and go quickly in a hyperchaotic information ecosystem, often absent full context. No wonder then that a recent poll found that 59 percent of Americans said Mueller has uncovered no crimes. In fact, he has secured 17 criminal indictments and obtained five guilty pleas. Accurate news reporting alone does not always carry the day.

The Russia scandal is the most important scandal in the history of the United States. President Andrew Johnson was impeached (but not convicted) because he violated an act of Congress to remove a secretary of war. In the Teapot Dome scandal, the secretary of the interior in Warren Harding’s administration leased federal lands at low rates to private oil companies, presumably in return for bribes. In Watergate, a president and his aides engaged in political skulduggery against political foes. President Bill Clinton lied about a sexual affair he had with a subordinate in the White House. All these scandals raised serious questions about integrity in government. But at the heart of the Russia scandal is the most fundamental issue for a democracy: the sanctity of elections.

An overseas enemy struck at the core of the republic—and it succeeded. Trump and his minions helped and encouraged this attack by engaging in secret contacts with Moscow and publicly insisting no such assault was happening. This is far bigger than a bribe, a break-in, or a blow job. And, worse, the United States remains vulnerable to such a strike.

Yet the full impact of this scandal does not resonate in the daily coverage and discourse. In many ways, the media presents the Russia scandal mostly as a political threat to Trump, not as a serious threat to the nation. And many Americans, thanks to Trump and his allies, view it as a charade. All this shows how easy it is for disinformation and demagoguery to distort reality. That is a tragedy for the United States. For Trump—and Putin—that is victory.

From "the 80's called and want their foriegn policy back" to reset to uranium one to Hillary/dnc commissioning Russian counterintelligence to TRUMP RUSSIA... you fuck ups couldn't tell reality from a pipe dream.

It only matters when it's politically expedient. Very useful idiots.

Case in point about steeeeee-yeewwwwwpid people who get snookered are the well-trained morons who still think "Uranium One" is an actual thing. When you find someone who babbles about this, please realize that they are urgently waving a "I am a fucking nitwit! I am the plankton in the intellectual food chain!" flag and exploit them in some way -- it'll be highly profitable, and, really, they want you to do it.

These are the people who pay to have the "Jupiter Rings" on their car adjusted, or who'll look up "gullible" in the dictionary when you tell 'em it's not in there (or that if they say it really slow it sounds like "oranges"), or that they'll have a good time if they call Jenny at 867-5309, or let people from "Microsoft" cold-call them and install ransomware on their computers. So, if you run across one of them, sell 'em a signed copy of Confederacy of Dunces or tell 'em you're the exiled king of Nigeria and have a big money-making deal for them, or sell 'em some magic beans or healing crystals. Pastor Jim Bakker is making a fortune off these laughable hoo-hahs, why shouldn't you? Sean Hannity's softened 'em up for you, so why should he be the only one who benefits from taking advantage of the soft-serve cowflop that's filling their cranial vaults? At least get them to lick a battery or something... they're here to laugh at, so don't miss out!

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hillary-clinton-uranium-russia-deal/

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/03/heres-why-republicans-stopped-talking-about-a-uranium-one-whistleblower/

https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2017/11/14/fox-news-shepard-smith-debunks-uranium-one-lie-peddled-his-own-network/218557

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/16/trump-claims--falsely--that-clinton-gave-russia-20-of-us-uranium.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/10/26/the-facts-behind-trumps-repeated-claim-about-hillary-clintons-role-in-the-russian-uranium-deal/?utm_term=.94ad5b484099

https://scottiestoybox.com/2017/11/15/debunking-the-uranium-one-lie/

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jun/30/donald-trump/donald-trump-inaccurately-suggests-clinton-got-pai/

I could keep going, but debunking Uranium One has about as much effect on a pants-shitting dullard as debunking Fast & Furious does. They're married to being a duh-eeeeeee and you couldn't pry 'em off it with a crowbar and a firehose. They need to believe that stuff, because otherwise all the other crap they've invested themselves in will fall apart, too, and then they'll have to face what they actually are and go into hiding and pray that people forget they ever existed.

Uranium one.....that says it all.  I do still get my quota of giggles.

Bond will be revoked and things will get very real for Paul.

When you tell witnesses what to say to make sure their stories are consistent with yours, that’s called Manafortsplaining. - OhNoSheTwint


i would like to recommend that Paul Manafort be held in the same facility and with the same conditions as the immigrant kids.

This should be easy then. What is Manafort being investigated for in relation to his work on trump's campaign?

Mueller writes — Manafort and Gates generated tens of millions of dollars from their work for Ukrainian politicians and Ukraine’s government and tried to hide it from US authorities. They did so by saying the money came from “loans” from offshore corporate entities they controlled, and Manafort used his offshore accounts to buy real estate. He worked for the Putin controlled Ukraine President, and got loans and hid money from the United States and suddenly became the head of the Trump Campaign where ten others are facing indictment......we will get a translator for you but it sounds like the Russians were influencing those folks connected to the Trump campaign, but the real question is why did Trump choose an obscure Paul Manafort to run his campaign.......we all await with baited breath for the trial.

That all took place prior to his connection to the trump campaign. Right?

So how does that tie trump to those acts? Prove collusion? Wasn't he fired upon discovery?

What specifically took place during the campaign that violated the law? Excluding Hillary/dnc of course.

Btw... McCabe wants immunity now too. Dems get immunity... pubs get secret warrants, raids, and indictments.

(CNN) Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has requested the Senate Judiciary Committee provide him with immunity from prosecution in exchange for testifying at an upcoming congressional hearing focused on how senior officials at the FBI and Justice Department handled the investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server, according to a letter obtained by CNN.

"Under the terms of such a grant of use immunity, no testimony or other information provided by Mr. McCabe could be used against him in a criminal case," wrote Michael Bromwich, a lawyer for McCabe, to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, who has requested McCabe testify next week.