Mueller Impanels Grand Jury in Russia Investigation. Don Jr first up on that Summer Jam Screen…

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/lewandowski-says-fbi-should-have-warned-trump-about-manafort

Lewandowski Says FBI Should Have Warned Trump Camp About Manafort

Former Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski blamed the FBI on Monday for not warning the Trump campaign about one-time campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

A 12-count indictment against Manafort was unsealed Monday.

“If the public reports are true, and there was a time where Paul Manafort was under a FISA warrant before coming to the Trump campaign, why is it the FBI never reached out to me as the campaign manager, never reached out to Donald Trump, and said: ‘Look, you might want to pause for a second and take a look before you bring this guy on board as a volunteer to hunt delegates to you,’” Lewandowski told Fox Business Network’s Charles Payne.

CNN first reported in September that investigators wiretapped Manafort before and after the campaign, citing unnamed sources.

Another former Trump campaign official, Rick Gates, was also indicted on Friday, according to unsealed records released Monday. The felony charges against Gates and Manafort include money laundering and violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Another Trump campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos, pleaded guilty earlier in October to making false statements to the FBI, in a case unsealed Monday.

“If Paul Manafort did something in 2006, a decade before he was brought on as volunteer to the Trump campaign, then he should be accountable for that, and he and his associate, Rick Gates, have been indicted on 12 counts of money laundering and probably tax evasion and other things which have absolutely nothing to do with the campaign, have nothing to do with the Russia investigation and have nothing to do with the President,” Lewandowski said separately.

Lewandowski and Manafort’s behind-the-scenes disagreements were the subject of multiple reports during their time together on the campaign. In September of this year, Lewandowksi said that that “anybody” — including, he said, “Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, or Rick Gates or Carter Page” — attempted to improperly influence the election, “I hope they go to jail for the rest of their lives.”

Lewandowski added Monday, referring to Manafort: “He was under a FISA warrant, supposedly, both before and after his tenure at the campaign, and the FBI never notified the leading presidential candidate for a major Republican party race? Never notified him of a potential problem? This is a problem with the FBI if you ask me.”

Lewandowski also implied that the indictments were political in nature, and that they had been used to secure the position of special counsel Robert Mueller.

He noted that Trump is expected to announce a new Federal Reserve chairman as soon as this week, and that Trump was advocating for an overhaul of the tax code. He also said there had been “a significant amount of pressure from members of Congress” for Trump to dismiss Mueller.

“All of the sudden, at the last minute, at the last hour on a Friday night, charges have been brought forward?” he asked.

Lewandowski concluded: “Look, if Paul Manafort and Rick Gates are guilty of tax evasion, money laundering, or hiding their accounts in Cyprus, or whatever it is, they should absolutely be held accountable. But they should be held accountable independent of the President, because the President had nothing to do with coordination, collusion or cooperation with Russia, nobody at the campaign did that I’m aware of.”

 

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/pelosi-schumer-react-to-charges-against-manafort-gates

Top Dems React To Charges Against Manafort: Probe Is ‘Very Serious’

Top Democrats on Monday said charges against President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort show the importance of investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the seriousness of the meddling.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said charges against Manafort and his business associate Rick Gates “show that the special counsel’s probe is ongoing in a very serious way.”

“The rule of law is paramount in America and the investigation must be allowed to proceed unimpeded,” Schumer said in a statement. “The President must not, under any circumstances, interfere with the special counsel’s work in any way. If he does so, Congress must respond swiftly, unequivocally, and in a bipartisan way to ensure that the investigation continues.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called for “an outside, fully independent investigation” into Russian election meddling “and the involvement of Trump officials.”

“Even with an accelerating Special Counsel investigation inside the Justice Department, and investigations inside the Republican Congress, we still need an outside, fully independent investigation,” she said in a statement. “Defending the integrity of our democracy demands that Congress look forward to counter Russian aggression and prevent future meddling with our elections.”

Special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the federal investigation into Russian interference and any potential involvement by members of Trump’s campaign, on Friday filed the first official charges in his probe.

Manafort and Gates on Monday surrendered to the FBI. They face 12 counts, including conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, false statements, false and misleading FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) statements and failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts.

 

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-allies-brush-manafort-new-case-drops

Trump, Allies Brushed Off The Manafort Charges. Then A New Case Dropped.

President Donald Trump and members of his inner circle on Monday were quick to distance the President from news that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort had surrendered to the FBI for charges related to money laundering, among other alleged offenses.

Those efforts to disassociate the President from the first arrests of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe quickly proved futile.

Just minutes after the President sounded off on Twitter to say the Manafort charges had nothing to do with him, and Trump’s former campaign manager defended him on television, court documents from a separate case were unsealed. Those documents revealed that a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser had pleaded guilty earlier this month to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia.

Just before 10:30 a.m. ET, Trump tweeted that the charges against Manafort stem from alleged bad deeds that occurred “years ago” and were therefore not the President’s problem. The indictment against Manafort indicates the alleged misconduct spanned from 2006 to 2017.

Trump then quickly switched the focus back to “crooked Hillary and the Dems,” proclaiming there was no collusion between his campaign and the Russian government to influence the election, issues that have been the focus of special counsel Mueller’s wide-ranging probe.

Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was one of the first Trump loyalists to appear on cable news to defend the President.

He was quick to shift blame away from his former boss, claiming during an interview with Fox Business that there is a “problem with the FBI” because the agency didn’t notify the campaign that Manafort was under a FISA warrant “before coming to the Trump campaign.”

He then echoed comments made by sources close to the White House early Monday that Manafort and his business associate Rick Gates — who was also named in the indictment — were “bad guys when they started. They were bad guys when they left. The indictment has nothing to do with any relationship with Russia.”

“Look, if Paul Manafort and Rick Gates are guilty of tax evasion, money laundering, or hiding their accounts in Cyprus, or whatever it is, they should absolutely be held accountable. But they should be held accountable independent of the President, because the President had nothing to do with coordination, collusion or cooperation with Russia, nobody at the campaign did that I’m aware of,” Lewandowski said.

News of the separate case, that the Trump campaign’s foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the federal agents, broke not long after Trump’s initial tweets.

Papadopoul0s admitted earlier this month that he lied to FBI agents in January about his contact with a professor whom he knew had substantial Kremlin connections. According to the court documents, Papadopoulos said he met with the professor just days before joining the Trump campaign.

 

[Mr.LV]

Manafort and Gates plead not guilty to charges

 

[VIBE]

"not guilty"

Trump is done

 

[stringer bell]

https://twitter.com/akadonaldtrump/status/925057540618182658
https://twitter.com/rebeccashabad/status/925056725031510016
https://twitter.com/jchaltiwanger/status/925059717571006469
https://twitter.com/pappiness/status/925059872487542785

 

[Mr.LV]

Manafort bail at $10 million

Gates bail at $5 million

 

[rickmogul]

Y'all stay safe out here. Like clockwork expect a diversion ( tragedy / disaster) like it always is when the heat is on. Almost predictable now.

 

[PureYang]

man...trump chillin right now.

Are the tweets right below your post indicative of somebody "chillin" off This?

Nah. It's been clear from the outset he's scared shitless

 

[skpjr78]

man...trump chillin right now.

Are the tweets right below your post indicative of somebody "chillin" off This?

Nah. It's been clear from the outset he's scared shitless

Inb4 preemptive strike against North Korea

 

[2stepz_ahead]

man...trump chillin right now.

Are the tweets right below your post indicative of somebody "chillin" off This?

Nah. It's been clear from the outset he's scared shitless

aye nigga...i dont wanna fight. lets watch the fireworks together.

what you drinking?

 

[Copper]

Kushner and trump jr was caught lying about those russian meetings too...

So how is it blame the FBI for trumps corruption angle gonna work?

 

[Mr.LV]

March 2016

emails about "very productive lunch" where he was introduced to "Putin's niece and Russian ambassador in London

May 2016

Forwards Email to campaign officials stating "Russia has been eager to meet Mr.Trump for quite some time"

May 2016

Campaign officials note need to communicate that "DT is not doing these trips"," should be someone low level...so as not to send any signal"

July 2016

Emails that a meeting with Russian officials and Trump campaign officials has been " approved from our side"

 

[Mr.LV]

February 2017

Has second interview with FBI,deletes Facebook account with Russian contacts the next day

 

[skpjr78]

March 2016

emails about "very productive lunch" where he was introduced to "Putin's niece and Russian ambassador in London

May 2016

Forwards Email to campaign officials stating "Russia has been eager to meet Mr.Trump for quite some time"

May 2016

Campaign officials note need to communicate that "DT is not doing these trips"," should be someone low level...so as not to send any signal"

July 2016

Emails that a meeting with Russian officials and Trump campaign officials has been " approved from our side"

Inb4 Obama tapped Trump Tower and hacked Trump' s emails

 

[2stepz_ahead]

didnt obama go for jury duty?

it be crazy if this is the case

 

[Mr.LV]

George Papadopoulos is 30 years old ....he does not want to do 15 to 20 years in a Federal prison for some rich old men ,he probably was wearing a wire for the last few months.

 

[LcnsdbyROYALTY]

It's getting uglier than Aquafina Floe in here

FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!! :joy:

 

[fortyacres]

George Papadopoulos is 30 years old ....he does not want to do 15 to 20 years in a Federal prison for some rich old men ,he probably was wearing a wire for the last few months.

30 years old doing a 20 year bid , he gonna flip

 

[Elzo69Renaissance]

George Papadopoulos is 30 years old ....he does not want to do 15 to 20 years in a Federal prison for some rich old men ,he probably was wearing a wire for the last few months.

30 years old doing a 20 year bid , he gonna flip

implied he wore a wire and recorded calls after July.....im ready for this