Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s interest in former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort stemmed in part from his suspected role as a “back channel” between the campaign and Russians intent on meddling in the election, a Justice Department lawyer told a judge.
The disclosure by U.S. prosecutors came Thursday during a hearing on whether Mueller exceeded his authority in indicting Manafort on charges of laundering millions of dollars while acting as an unregistered agent of the Ukrainian government. Manafort’s lawyers say those alleged crimes have nothing to do with Mueller’s central mission -- to determine whether anyone in the Trump campaign had links to the Russian government.
Defense attorney Kevin Downing argued anew to U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington that even Mueller’s appointment order permitting him to probe “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation” wouldn’t cover the political consulting work that Manafort did in Ukraine for a decade.
But Justice Department attorney Michael Dreeben said prosecutors were justified in investigating Manafort because he had served as Trump’s campaign chairman. “He had long-standing ties to Russia-backed politicians,” Dreeben told Jackson. “Did they provide back channels to Russia? Investigators will naturally look at those things.”
Prosecutors hadn’t previously used such explicit language to describe their suspicions about Manafort. In a previous court filing, Mueller also cited business ties between Manafort and the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
Well if this pans out Manafort might be what they refer to in the legal profession as F.U.C.K'd.
David Corn of Mother Jones gets it:
And this only adds to the avalanche of legal problems that is crushing the life out of Manafort which include a five-count indictment in Washington on charges of money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent for Ukraine, and an 18-count indictment in Virginia on charges of bank fraud, tax evasion and failing to report foreign bank accounts.How many times does this have to be explained? DJT Jr., Manafort & Kushner met with Russian emissary & signaled to Moscow they would gladly collude with secret Russian plan to help Trump by accepting HRC dirt. They showed Moscow they approved of efforts to intervene. https://t.co/JaLX9lxKiD— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) April 19, 2018
Did I mention that he was F.U.C.K'd?
Manafort would also like to have access to his bank accounts returned.
Not because he wants to flee the country, but because he desperately wants to flee the country.
You know all of this reminds me of that word we kept hearing all year. You know the one that rhymes with "confusion."
Contusion, intrusion, foregone conclusion, nah that's not it.
Don't worry, I am sure it will come to me eventually.
Source https://ift.tt/2HPeTk6
