And about 45% of Americans who voted in the 2016 presidential election voted for a man who was not only a simple-minded, unqualified bully, but also clearly friendly to Russia.
Why?
Because these people hate many of their fellow Americans -- liberals, minorities, immigrants, feminists -- even more than they hate the Russians who clearly want to undermine and harm America.
Sad.
6
What a horrible judgment call to make this man your campaign chief unless currying favor with Putin is your goal. Manafort is as corrupt and amoral as Trump. Love to see them as cell mates.
6
As evidenced recently by the publishing of the "Paradise Papers", there exists a close knit, global, high level, corporatocracy/kleptocracy. It moves vast sums of filthy money around the planet, into tax havens and out of sight of tax jurisdictions. It's all about the money, and it's their world. We just have the misfortune of being stuck in it, and subservient to it.
10
Most commentators on this thread display an unbelievable degree of ignorance when it comes to what happened in Ukraine.
Dumbing down of the electorate at full display here.
SAD.
4
I think Manafort and friends spread Russian laundered money to Republicans during the RNC Convention which is why they aren't thwarting
Trump's authoritarian sentiments.
I based this on the arrest of Nigel Farage's youthful volunteer aide who accompanied him to the RNC Convention using a false name. He was arrested while leaving the country for laundering money for his nefarious clients on the dark net... and then blackmailing his stupid clients.
But when I saw Manafort's notes from the highly suspicious meeting with the Russians in Trump Tower included both contributions and the RNC Convention, my speculation solidified. Trump would be wise to flee to Russia like Edward Snowden. He's nothing more than Putin's chaos agent.
1
Admiral Wolsey notified me Flynn was plotting kidnapping.
Hands across the water or just another butter pie?
Russia occupied the parts of Georgia? Is this a reference to the peace-keeping mission that ended the Georgian civil war and was based on the international agreement and signed by Georgia? By such standards the half of the World is occupied by the US and by European countries.
2
Do you think Manafort’s integrity hinges on whether he supported overturning the government of Ukraine?
1
Yup, not too hard to connect the dots on this one. Putin's man Yanukovych pays tens of millions of dollars to a political 'consultant', who just so happens to be American. An amoral, self absorbed stooge of an American businessman who happens to owe tens of millions of dollars to a Russian state controlled bank decides to run for president. The very well paid political consultant decides to work for US stooge without being paid a dime. The stooge candidate spouts anti-EU, anti-NATO rhetoric at every turn. Stooge candidate actually wins, with the wind of Russian propaganda at his back. A half trillion dollar joint Exxon-Russia oil deal is on hold because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Stooge candidate installs former Exxon CEO as secretary of state.
A half trillion dollar business deal is pretty major thing in the US economy, but in the Russian economy, which is about the size of Italy's economy right now (meaning quite small as developed nations go), it is a huge deal.
The burning questions I have: how and from whom did Manafort's name come up as a person to run the campaign, and why. And, the same for Tillerson as a person to run the State dept.
There is no such thing as a free lunch.
8
Mr. Trump had made public his affinity for Mr. Putin and disdain for EU and NATO even before he became the Republican Party candidate for president. It is reasonable to assume that it may not be the only reason why he appointed the pro-Moscow, anti-EU and anti-NATO Paul Manafort as his campaign chairman. That Mr. Manafort’s Putin connections could come in handy in the expansion of Mr. Trump’s business empire into Russia may have been a motivating factor. The expansion had been in the works even before the campaign got underway.
We will know the whole story by the time special counsel Mueller completes his investigation. What we know by now, thanks to the investigation, is that Mr. Manafort was a well-paid agent of the Ukrainian government, “attempting to influence American officials and policy toward Ukraine.” That he did the work in violation of U.S. law, because he had not registered as a foreign agent, is a different matter. As stated in this article, it was with Mr. Manafort’s help that Mr. Victor F. Yanukovych got elected president of Ukraine in 2010.
In time we will know whether he was getting paid for his work for Ukraine while also working as Mr. Trump’s campaign manager. The anti-West Yanukovych was Mr. Putin’s puppet. By working for Mr. Yanukovych, Mr. Manafort was doing Mr. Putin's bidding. What more corroborative evidence do we need to establish a Putin connection to the Trump campaign?
5
Ex-deputy sec. of defense Farchas fails to mention our CIA, State Department & Military influence & financial support for the illegal fascist-tinged coup that overthrew Ukraine's duly elected President, Yanukovych. Any useful account of 21st Ukraine history must examine with some objectivity the policy of both Americans & Russians & their motives, behavior, & goals re Ukraine. Ms. Farkas, who must know what we did, refuses to talk about us, and thus sadly her piece is only mere coverup. As a liberal democrat, what I see is Ms. Farkas supporting still our failed external regime change policies- with no sense of the history to follow (see Libya, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Viet Nam, Ukraine & Russia)--that ultimately hurts the cause of liberalism and world progress. Do neo-cold warriors like Ms. Farkas, ex-Ambasador Michael McFall and the other regime-changers think that putting our own oligarch in as President of a Ukraine which now has lost the Crimea and half the state has made things better? A universal truth still hard to acknowledge: the CIA, the State & Defense Depts. & Hilary Clinton's intrusion in the Russian 2011 and its results made a needless enemy. If you interfere in Russians' elections, as the USA has done this whole century, why wouldn't they want to get even? But the cold warriors like Farchas can't yet face that obvious truth because if they did they might have to look in the mirror & see the hideous Blondie oligarch they helped make President.
4
It's disappointing to learn that our election was manipulated not only in the same way, but also by the same people, as the election in the Ukraine. It's also disappointing to learn that people so close to our administration are working around the world to suppress the cause of freedom.
Our founders would turn over in their graves.
4
The key issue: Manafort was hired to direct Donald Trump's campaign. Why exactly would the Trump campaign hire Manafort with the majority of his recent experience dominated by Ukraine/Russia? It appears that his in-depth familiarity with American politics was weak.
As this reflects on Trump, there are two possibilities, neither very pretty. Either the Trump organization is utterly incompetent in vetting candidates (it is) and just didn't know anything about Manafort (not likely). Or, Trump saw value in a dishonest political adviser for Russian interests in Ukraine. The two key words here are "dishonest" and "Russian".
Trump's assessment of assistants are dominated by issues of ability to negotiate and disregard for rules and laws. There are also suggestions of Trump financial interests with Russia, hidden along with Trump tax returns. Manafort is a disreputable crook. Moreover, as reported in Slate, "it’s clear Trump and Manafort have been operating in close circles for decades [since the 1980's]". The most likely possibility is that Trump knew about Manafort and his background and wanted a man like that in his campaign.
Trump was incredibly naive to believe that American media would be unable to ferret out Manafort's Russian connections.
Details of the relationship between the Trump campaign and Russia will evolve as Mueller's investigation matures.
1
And we still have no clear answer to what motivated cynical and mercenary political players like Manafort and Gates to decide to work pro-bono for Trump. Unselfish patriotism? Do these kind of characters ever do anything for nothing?
2
And people, namely Republicans, were worried in 1960 that JFK would be taking orders from the Vatican. If only.
1
Donald Trump hired Paul Manafort because his work on the Gerald Ford, Ronald Regan, George H.W. Bush and Bob Dole presidential campaigns established his reputation as a capable political consultant, not because of his work in Ukraine. (John McCain hired Richard Davis, who cofounded the Davis Manafort consulting firm with Paul Manafort, as his 1980 presidential campaign manager.) Trump fired Manafort after six months on the job when money laundering and tax evasion charges surface. So, Trump might be accused of firing “Putin’s man,” except it is absurd to refer Manafort as “Putin’s man.” From the Trump perspective, he was “Ford, Regan, Bush and Dole’s man.” Trump hired Manafort to help win over the American electorate, not Ukraine’s ethnic Russians,
2
"Russia has been targeting the American right since at least 2013, the year Putin enacted a law targeting pro-gay rights organizing and delivered a state-of-the-nation address extolling Russia’s “traditional values” and assailing the West’s “genderless and infertile” liberalism. That same year, a Kremlin-connected think tank released a report entitled, “Putin: World Conservativism’s New Leader.” In 2015, Russia hosted a delegation from the National Rifle Association, one of America’s most influential conservative lobby groups, which included David Keene, then-president of the NRA and now editor of the Washington Times editorial page, which regularly features voices calling for a friendlier relationship with Moscow."
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/07/18/how-the-gop-became-th...
1
The honest question is did Manafort ever STOP working for Putin?
2
The amusing thing, in addition to the fact the comment police are either slow or refuse to post my comment(s) lambasting the author, is that one of the biggest complaints people have about Trump is he doesn't listen to his advisers as much as people think he should. So Manafort is campaign chairman for 2 months and somehow in that amt of time manages to influence Trump?
Really?
2
Manafort sold out the US and the EU for money, that he hid from the US. At the minimum, acting for a foreign power, tax evasion, money laundering. As Trump would say (in other cases) "Guilty! Send him to Guantonamo!"
2
After Manafort quit the Trump campaign, didn't Trump "lend" Manafort several million dollars? Isn't that in itself suspicious? Then add the fate of the Russian sources of the Steele dossier, all dead or disappeared, and the conspiracy grows more certain.
2
The implication from this article is that Manafort was actively working against the US's global geo-political interests and pursuing the interests of Russia. That sounds treasonous to me...maybe not in the letter of the law but certainly in spirit. And it is sad to see that there are still people who hear no evil and see no evil except if it includes Hilary Clinton. America's greatest generation will be turning in their graves.....
3
Trump is Putin's puppet. How else can you explain ALL the people with Russian ties in his campaign and administration?
1
While I agree that it's really about Russia, with Manafort, not Ukraine, you should make a correction regarding events in 2013. The deal with the EU that was proposed was primarily a trade deal to link the countries closer, but it was not a deal for formal EU membership.
This is all about Paul Manafort and nothing else. It is about his excesses plain and simple.
He found fertile soil for his life, exploits, and money in multiple countries characterized by authoritarianism, corruption, and slush funds. This included the Philippines, Pakistan, Ukraine, Angola to name a few.
I doubt he has a political ideology.
Work in such countries further loosened his ethics.
It is truly remarkable and very sad that he then found a home in the Donald Trump presidential campaign.
His track record has been transparent and clear.
I first read about him in the Ukrainian press in 2006. Multiple stories followed.
Here is a report from March 19, 2007: http://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/articles/2007/03/19/4414941
It is still online.
The Trump campaign either did not care or wanted such expertise or connections.
1
Anyone making the point that Manaforte’s actions are simply the exercise of free enterprise to make a living misses the point. The relevant point in the context of the US presidential election is whether we really want an administration full of people who made their money working with and, in Manaforte’s case, for, a form of government and proven criminal actors that represent the antithesis of what we want. Guilt by association may not be the way our courts convict people; but anyone who ignores who their associates and colleagues hang out with is a fool.
3
And it gets way, way worse. The Greek press and @SethAbramson are reporting that Papadopoulos was in Greece meeting with Greek Defense Minister on the same day (May 27, 2016) Putin visited and met with DM. Why is NYT not reporting this?
1
It, almost impossible, with all the data and information we the public know, not to conclude that Trump has actually worked toward an alliance with Russia. It can be no coincidence that every one of his key personnel have a strong Russian connection.
3
The story isn't hidden. From the GOP convention forward, an observer could see Manafort was compromised. Manafort had a pedigree that should destroy a candidate. If he was Clinton's campaign director, he'd already be in prison.
When Mueller arrested Manafort and revealed Papadopoulos, the media (and pols) discounted the first and got thrilled by the second. This revealed how Manafort's actions were normalized, a problem the media is responsible for. "We expected Manafort to be arrested, so it's not news."
What happens if Manafort is a Russian agent? He behaved like one. Moving into Trump Tower a year before the campaign, pushing into Trump's circle. He was on a mission, and it wasn't ideological. Manafort is not an American hero. Don't expect him to protect the GOP, or Trump.
Putin wants to destabilize the U.S.. Trump is capable, but Manafort can provide a needed push. What happens if he reveals Trump is a Manchurian candidate? American politics will unravel.
It doesn't matter how many people knew Manafort was in trouble. What's important is the trouble he can cause. I hope the media isn't blind-sided.
3
I lived in Ukraine for over two years during the Yushenko-Yanukovish election and subsequent Orange Revolution. Saying Manafort was an "agent of the Ukrainian Government" is misleading, insofar as that version of the Ukrainian Government was simply a puppet regime for Russia. So it would be more accurate to say Manafort was an agent of Russia, by way of Ukraine.
And in fact, slapping national borders on this is silly - what we are really talking about is a coterie of post-Soviet oligarchs who made their money by stealing on a massive scale after the fall of the Soviet Union. Putin has found a way to round most of them up into his crime syndicate through bribes, fear, and murder. Manafort is just a stooge for this mafia, which manipulated him the way they manipulated Trump and others in the campaign (Papadopoulos, Page, Don Jr., etc.). I'm sure most of them think there was no collusion because they are too short sighted to know they got played. And there will be no "smoking gun" because the oligarchs are way too savvy to manipulate directly.
4
Sounds like Putin has something, i.e. a death threat and or a financial incentive on Manafort.
The 12millon "Ukrainian "dollars were not free.
The Russians don't give money away.
2
Perhaps we'll also determine the extent to which Tony Podesta was Mr. Putin's man in Washington. Between Manafort and Podesta we can see why so many citizens are fed up with Washington. Lobbyists making millions off their rent-seeking clients. This is the real swamp that needs to be drained.
Of course we have to recognize why the swamp exists. Government has become so intrusive in so many aspects of our lives that no business, professional association, charity, or other organization can ignore it. Sometimes a good lobbyist can be more important than a good business plan (e.g. Tesla.) Unfortunately, there is no one lobbying for the taxpayer.
2
Let us hope that Trump does not ditch his U.S. interpreter again when he gets instructions from President Putin at the APEC meeting. We have literally no way to know what Putin told Trump in his two-hour meeting in Europe earlier this year. He may have ordered him to raise hell about the NFL. Either way, the American people have a right to know the Kremlin's plans for the U.S. government!
1
I once visited the Russian tea room. I also like Russian dressing. I am a fan of Russian vodka. My best friend was at one time a missionary in Russia. I have a niece who worked in Russia. I've read Tolstoy. Dostoyevsky. A girl I roomed with in grad school took Russian. I took Chinese. I applaud Russian heroism on the eastern front during WW 2.
My mentor in grad school family immigrated from Russia.
I think Trump is doing a fine job.
Lock me up. Lock me up.
I get it! Yanukovicjh shakes hands with Putin. Later he makes a deal and shakes hands with Manafort. Then Manafort shakes hands with Trump and that's how Putin spread the 'kavorka' that drove American voters nuts.
They oughtta make this into a movie!
2
How did Mr. Manafort become campaign chairman for Mr. Trump? To my knowledge, he wasn't a widely known political consultant in the U.S. and most of his consultancy work of the past ten years had been in the Ukraine as this article confirms. What prompted Mr. Trump to hire him? Did he know him personally? If so, under what circumstances? Was he recommended by someone? If so, by whom? Were there money ties between the two? If so, what money, and from where? Dot...Dot...Dot.
2
This guy - if his business could swing it - would've loved to be "Putin's man in Washington". It's clear this guys shop and employees reviled "boy scouts" and any sort of moral-compass-following competitors.
"I'm shocked, shocked to find that money-powered espionage is going on here" and that Russia would be attacking "our democracy" --- particularly when our 2016 elaborately staged (s)election of faux-democracy between Emperor Trump and 'Empress-in-waiting' Hillary was being orchestrated by the ruling-elite disguised global capitalist Empire right here in River City.
Putin must be enjoying his ability to lure both of these amateur Vichy Parties into a bidding war for the 'Steele Dossier' to more quickly and effectively support their own deceitful stories and bludgeon their opponent.
Remember, as the world believed in 1991, as Ronnie Reagan shouted, and as Francis Fukuyama originally wrote in "The End of History" (but later corrected), the last "Evil Empire" on earth had collapsed --- and there were no Empires left.
2
On its topic of Manafort role in relation to the Mueller investigation, this article is very good and clear.
But it would have been nice to provide an ounce or two of perspective, showing it has not been and is not pure good guy West and bad guy Russia:
1. From our State Department, Victoria Nuland et al agitated for the anti-Russian action right in the historic birthplace of Russia, Kiev, Ukraine. If I were Russia, I'd want to find way to counter-attack.
2. Here in the USA, the whole repuglican party is driving our country in the same direction that Putin wants: more and more an oligarchy, more and more like Putin's Russia.
3
I will never forget the videos of Yanukovych's palace and private zoo that became accessible to Ukrainians after he fled the country. Yanukovych is a murderer who also pillaged his country's treasury to set up a little fantasyland for himself. Why am I not surprised that Manafort was his agent here in the west, and why am I even less surprised that Manafort directed Trump's campaign. Crooks all!
5
See how easy reporting is?
Hidden in a Times random opinion piece.
The state of the Times. Not much reporting in the paper so almost reporting in the opinion section stands out against the courtier gossip called reporting or labeled "news analysis." Dumb luck I bet. Some editor made some calls to get the "other side" didn't they?
pure innuendo. No facts linking Manafort to Russia or that he did anything to influence Trump re Russia.
And Manafort did not become Trump's campaign manager in March 2016... it was June. This is on par with the lie that Papadopoulos is accused of (he got the dates wrong when he became acquainted with the Russian professor).
So, an Obama era assistant sec of Defense is credible and not politically motivated. I don't know, but if you can't get your facts straight and all you have is innuendo, then, my guess is...
3
Money is money for a capitalist – it does not matter where it comes from. We are dredging up all the Russia sources but I wonder what would happen if we were to do the same with CHINESE money – I bet not one person will come out clean.
1
The key is to protect Mueller from being fired.
If he's allowed to dig, I'm sure he'll turn up corruption that will make our toes curl, but Donadl has an itchy trigger finger. We mustn't allow him to sabotage this investigation. Literally, our democracy is at stake.
4
It is soo amazing to hear people voice the Trump Cult Mantras -- Wake up!
This is right out of a John Le Carre spy novel. Manafort, Flynn and it seems like many more are the perfect Russian toadies.
1
Russiacan Party in 2020! Keeping the world safe for Oligarchs everywhere!
6
Paul Manafort was a Russian agent, pure and simple. He worked for a pro-Russian puppet in Ukraine. After the puppet was ousted, Manafort removed U.S. arms aid for Ukraine from the GOP platform at the behest of Russia. He laundered money for Russian oligarchs with close ties to Putin, and maybe some of Putin's own money. And he may have stolen some of the Russian cash he was supposed to launder -- as much as $19 million -- which is why he tried to use his position as Trump's campaign chairman to "get whole" with Oleg Deripaska. Manafort deserves to be put away for life in prison.
6
The Obama administration also refused to supply Ukraine with weapons.
1
Ms. Farkas colors in many of the dots, just doesn't connect them. Not sure why she doesn't. Manafort, who hasn't worked in US Politics since 1996, shows up in March 2016 as a "volunteer" to the tramp campaign. Due diligence or what some people call "vetting" would show he owed $17 Million to Oleg Deripaska at the time, after working for the Putin ally for the previous 10 years. And he told Tom Barack that he needed to get hitched up with the tramp campaign in December of 2015. Hopefully, Mueller is looking at when tramp pumped money into his campaign starting after Manafort joined the campaign, the amount of each infusion of cash, when it was made, and what tramp accounts it came from. I am sure he will find rubles in each of these "donations" to his own campaign.
4
To begin with, there's no way to talk about Ukraine without talking about Russia.
Just like there's no talking about Russia without talking about Vladimir Putin.
Once that's clear, everything else falls easily into place. And no amount of back-pedaling, or denial is going to change it. Especially when it comes to Paul Manafort.
His is an open and shut case.
All you have to do to connect the dots is follow the money.
Next.
10
I wonder if we, the human race, are doomed to small lives dominated by greedy thugs who want all the power and wealth. It was that way in ancient Athens, in ancient Rome, Moscow...Washington.
Could be we are just unable to rise above our animalistic genes.
We have Barack Obama in office, and I have hope. I see where we have fallen with Trump and I lose that hope.
I don't doubt our world will soon be engulfed in another terrible world war, over power and oil and religion. If the UN couldn't stop the criminals Cheney and Bush from starting the last war, it cannot stop Putin from manipulating the next.
The greatest crime the Bush family ever perpetrated was in emasculating the UN.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
2
The wee people don't want responsibility for managing the world's problems and are not allowed to even know what machinations are taking place in their name. Who but a plutocrat has the time and money to really influence our corrupt Congress and the most corrupt president in American history? We have been moving toward the Trump debacle for decades.
There is no doubt Manafort is in with the Russians deeply. Most of his money has come from them. He is a traitor to the USA and I sure hope Mueller has the evidence to convict him. We are truly in a very scary time where our Democracy is being taken over by an authoritarian who wants to and is well on his way to ruling and with the powers over his Country as Putin. It ws just days ago Kushner was in Saudia Arabia and now the Rule Prince there has arrested all other Royal Princes.
7
So we have Manafort, Gates and Geroge Papadopolous already charged. Then there's Michael Cohn, Michael Flynn, Carter Page, Roger Stone, Wilbur Ross, Rex Tillerson, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr and Jeff Sessions, all who simply don't remember their encounters with Russians. And then there's Donald Trump himself.
For an administration who had nothing to do with Russia it seems there are an awful lot of people in Trumps orbit that had something to do with Russia and then lied about it.
This has NEVER happened before in American history, especially when that country interfered with a presidential election in an effort to tilt the results so Trump would win.
But according to the Sarah Sanders and Donald Trump, there's nothing to see here and it's Hillary's fault and she should be investigated, not Trump and his minions.
This is all okay with the Republican party and Trump supporters.
I never thought I'd see the day when the United States of America would be a Russian satellite country with Vladimir Putin calling the shots. The sanctions against Russia became law on October 01, 2017 but have yet to be implemented by this administration and Trump presented the Russians with classified information IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
I don't even care about the details anymore. I can't get the word treason out of my head. Republicans embrace destruction and corruption and betrayed the country.
The entire matter is so surreal to me it's like tripping in the 1960's.
16
So far. no one has been indicted for anything they did as members of the Trump campaign or Trump administration.
Manafort wasn't indicted for anything having to do with the Trump campaign, the 2016 election, or Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Papadopoulos was indicted for lying about his Russian contacts during a Jan. 27 interview, that was conducted two months after the lection, when Papadopoulos was no longer a member of the Trump campaign. The indictment against Papadopoulos does not alleged that there was anything illegal about his "Russian connections." Many people think Papadopoulos exaggerated or invented his Russian connections. The Maltese professor who allegedly served Papadopoulos as a go-between says Papadopoulos' claims are "incredible."
1
Donnytreason is also Putin's man in Washington.
PROSECUTE RUSSIAGATE!
4
Shouldn't we at least give the Kremlin a chance to Make America Great Again before we take such extreme action?
Excellent and necessary Op-Ed: it should be distributed widely to counter the ridiculous truth-defying spin coming from Fox propaganda and other right-wing media.
7
@ ortse
You mean like countering the truth about the US' overthrow of the democratically elected government of President Viktor Yanukovych while convincing the ever-gullible U.S. mainstream media (and utterly uninformed Americans) that the coup wasn’t really a coup but a victory for “democracy.”
LOL.
There is a glaring factual inaccuracy in this OpEd where it states that "Mr. Yanukovich rejected a pending agreement to join the European Union". The agreement on offer was an free-trade agreement that was to complement an earlier Association Agreement. The free-trade agreement was far-reaching, envisaging a partial integration of Ukraine into the EU internal market, but there was (on purpose) no reference to a possible accession to the EU.
2
that's just one -- she also states Manafort became Trump's campaign mgr in March 2016, when it was actually in June.
2
@ Pieter Kuijper
The entire OpEd is full of falsehoods and propaganda.
No wonder when you consider the author.
2
I just wonder what exact expertise did Manafort bring to the table, to help Yanukovych to the Ukraine presidency?as an American, did he know the country's ethnic and other tensions well enough to advise a native born candidate how to exploit them? ...
2
Apparently, he knew enough to get Yanukovich elected. Seems like he knew more than pro-Western Yuschenko who after 5 years in power managed to get 5% of votes. But all this should not be surprised to anybody who read NYT. According to the paper, Russians know Americans much better than American politicians. That's why Russian meddling was so successful in the last election.
Kiev Russia was the birthplace of the Russian Czars and Soviet Commissars as one ethnic Slavic Ukrainian Russian Orthodox Christian historical whole.
Paul Manafort, Donald Trump, Jeff Sessions, Mike Flynn, Don, Jr. and Jared Kushner are merely the puppet dummies of KGB /FSB Russian President Czar wannabe Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. All rise for the singing and playing of the Russian National Anthem and saluting the red, white and blue flag of Russia.
6
Yep. Manafort made millions in Ukraine helping the bad guys, namely Viktor Yanukovych, an anti-democratic pro-Russian kleptocrat of the first order, while the United States was trying to promote democracy. A windfall one of his daughters referred to as "blood money."
Then, he worked for Trump, for free.
9
I recall embarrassing email stolen from our State Department made the rounds in that election, too. It's an OLD dirty trick, so I suspect Manafort was sent to deliver.
@ Chris
"while the United States was trying to promote democracy."
You can't really be THAT uninformed, can you?
There once was a man named Manafort
Who caught the eye of a federal court
For laundering money
And appearing chummy
With Russians of enormous import
32
Looks like Manafort did what he was paid for in Ukraine, and tried to do the same in the US to have a pro-Russian president and succeded (well done, Paul, except you didnt cover your tracks and you spent too much).
Lobbying is legal and lots of money are at stake for corruption. Congress should look into discloure rules and in limiting the dollars permitted by any special interest lobby.
Oops, I forgot, lobbyist were the same guys in congress who just retired! Forgetaboutit!
17
Two extracts from this piece:
"and may also have been about the campaign"
"We do not yet know the extent "
In between the two we have a resume of recent Ukraine history and not much more, resulting in unsubstantiated innuendo by the author, a former Obama official.
2
thank you KWB. Also, there are several statements of facts -- such as Manafort did not become campaign chair in March, 2016 -- it was June.
1
To summarize for the voters:
Putin paid Manafort to successfully install a puppet regime in Ukraine.
Putin paid Manafort to successfully install a puppet regime in the U.S.
The details of how Putin did it are relevant for Manafort’s upcoming criminal trials, and for the Congress to figure out how to prevent this in the future.
We voters already know enough to act at the ballot box.
9
Manafort's claim that his work was pro-democracy (not that democracy is working out to be all that great, btw!) was a diversion. Manafort was a hired gun, yet he took the Trump job without pay. One has to wonder who was paying. Oh, wait, we already know--Putin cronies!
4
Please remember Russians and Ukrainians are from the same cradle ,Kiev Rus , have the same DNA ,are Slavic Orthodox Christians and share a common history.
It's not about Russia. It's not about the Ukraine. It's about "how the hell did Trump get elected" and looking for dirt on anyone who had anything to do with helping him.
2
“But Mr. Manafort’s work in Ukraine, which began in 2006, has always in a real sense been about Russia — and may also have been about the campaign.”
Quite true. Manafort’s ‘work’ in Ukraine was always about personal enrichment with the Ukrainian circle of corrupt Oligarchs and their connections worldwide including in the USA, Russia and Europe. There is no need for the “in a real sense” about Russia. Corrupt Russian, Ukrainian and American Businessmen were all at the feeding trough together.
“And may also have been about the campaign”. For those determined to overthrow the legitimately elected President of the United States there will always be a ‘may also have been …’
This was in 2006 two years after the USA coup d’état overthrew the legitimately elected President of the Ukraine and opened Ukraine to more American looting.
There is no need for the “in a real sense” about Russia. Corrupt Russian, Ukrainian and American Businessmen were all at the feeding trough together. It was always about looting Ukraine – at least that part of Ukraine that was not protected by Russia!
1
The ongoing battle between putin and HRC gave rise to much of this Russian influence in our political process.
Russia used so much propaganda to destroy the inevitable Clinton presidency that it tipped the electoral scales in favor of putins puppet, DJT.
The evidence is out there and Mueller has much of it as revealed by his July guilty plea from Papadopolous.
Manafort and DJT are just collateral damage in an old battle.
1
Is Mr Trump our Mr. Yanukovych?
5
It is hopelessly naive to claim that Manafort's dealings in the Ukraine were not directly manipulated by Putin. Manafort, as campaign chair, and Trump himself, have always been Putin's men in Washington. To subsidize their lavish lifestyle, they rely upon Russian oligarchs beholden to Putin, who gleefully extracts his quid pro quo from his agents.
4
Is anyone making sure this comment page is not being populated by the now-infamous Russian bots? Color me suspicious, Arthur-of-the-odd-turn-of-phrase and scattered logic.
4
Where is Flynn in all of this mess? He is the key that will unlock the door.
1
Or Not -- and then where will you be?
It's all circumstantial evidence against Manafort so far. But it is useful to recall how many horrific deeds are but circumstantial in the world of Putin. Manafort worked for Yanukovich, whose opponent -- Yuschenko -- was poisoned. Magnitsky, for whom Russian sanctions are named, was murdered, too, and the evidence is circumstantial. Of course, Trump's son and son-in-law joined Manafort for a meeting with Russians trying to end the sanctions, but the evidence of traitorous collusion is circumstantial, too. Many, many other Kremlin opponents have been murdered, and of course the evidence, if damning, is all circumstantial. Russian troops wearing little green masks occupied eastern Ukraine, and although that was denied, even Putin could not help but smirk at the obviousness of the circumstantial evidence -- joking that they were in Ukraine "on vacation." The best advice, as with Watergate, is "follow the money."
9
Evelyn Farkas - the writer of this article - played an important role in the coup that is often sold to us as the Maidan Revolution. Predictably her article is full of dubious statements.
Yanukovich did not reject the idea of an agreement with the EU as such. He only rejected the agreement as it was proposed because it was a bad deal for Ukraine. Time has proved him right in that. The deal gives the EU industry free access to the Ukrainian market - destroying much of its industry. But in the areas where Ukraine is competitive it imposes strict quota so that Ukraine cannot profit from its advantages.
Farkas writes that "the Ukrainians" protested against this decision. In fact option polls showed that only 49% supported the protests.
According to Farkas the Ukrainians are divided between those who want to cooperate with Russia and those who want to cooperate with the West. In fact there is a third group: those who want to cooperate with both. And each of those groups is supported by about a third of the population.
Manafort supported Yanukovich and his Party of the Regions. There is nothing wrong with that. The fact that the party is seen as "pro-Russian" doesn't change that - they genuinely represent a segment of the Ukrainian population. And if you want to persecute him for this you should also prosecute all those US politicians who have eagerly supported the interests of Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk in the US.
2
Let's admit it, Trump is the true Manchurian president. Whatever Putin has on him and his family Trump is solidly in the pocket of the Kremlin--solidly.
13
If some of Trump's friends, advisers and cabinet members are mafia oriented doing business under shell companies and close to Russia's corporations and interests, what is the President's hidden agenda?
Trump's ignorance of the shady side of his associates is hard to believe after all the bragging about his intelligence and deal making abilities. Deal makers research the people they intend to partner with.
Not only Russia, now also PDVSA is in Trump's orbit. And. Is not only that Trump reminds me of Chavez but his followers remind me of the Chavistas. Identical.
3
Not sure I would bet on Manafort turning state's evidence that would reveal a damaging plot tied directly to the Kremlin. People who become inconvenient or turn on Vladimir Putin have a habit of turning up dead all of a sudden. Even under house arrest, Manafort has got to be sleeping with one eye open.
5
I have been wondering about this for some time. The ease with which Russian oligarchs have people poisoned or tossed out of windows, or even shot on the streets is frightening. And I have wondered if and when we might start seeing that here. And if anyone in law enforcement is worried about it, too, or doing something to ward it off.
1
I imagine he is worried for his daughter too. Mafia people and ruthless dictators like Putin threaten the family to keep their man on they're side.
1
And by extension Trump is also Putin's man in Washington.
7
Look. I am Venezuelan by birth. That gives me a perspective that is somehow missing in the US.
In my country, Russian infiltration came in a decade or so again via Cuba. How did it come in? All sorts of ways. From guns and missiles all the way to corporate deals and gang tactics. In 2014, when the Ukraine was under threat, the language coming out of Venezuela was eerily similar to the language being used to justify the toppling of the Ukraine. It was freaky how similar both countries sounded in justifying violence against its citizens---from the use of the word Bourgeois to the use of armed gangs to silence foes. Why did Russia want Venezuela? Oil and location.
Venezuela has been a pawn. That my family's life and my country of birth have been destroyed is a casualty of some geopolitical game of chess that Putin has been playing. I get that. But the nefarious web of money laundering, drug and arms dealing, corporate raiding etc that Russia is attempting in the US is part of their wider pattern of invasions without firing a gun.......
71
Did Mr. Yanukovych order his special forces to shoot and kill 100 unarmed demonstrators? That is not proven and you are incorrect to state it here as fact. Foreign agents were at work in the Ukraine as any fair-minded person knows.
2
Malarkey, nearly all of this article. Warmongering rhetoric about Russia, Russia, Russia. Manafort was a lobbyist. For years, he has worked here and around the world to promote various politicians with no official complaints, until Russiagate hysteria caused Mueller to single him out. M’s. Farkas even repeats the notion that the US government was not actively encouraging and supporting the overthrow of the elected Ukrainian president.
8
Of course, you are entitled to having your own opinion -- but having lived next door to East Germany, I do not underestimate Vladimir Putin, for whom the Cold War never ended.
Most Americans will come to realize this...too late.
3
Wow! What a snake's pit of conflict that Manafort was able to orchestrate in favor of Russian's puppet Yanukovich. Mueller's job was helped by following the money. Does anybody think that Trump was stupid enough not to have had Manafort's dossier at hand, when assigned to direct Trump's campaign?
So Trump's logic was to look at the situation in Ukraine and say "Get me the man who did that." Once again he chooses the best people to advise and surround him from the truth. I'm stunned that people think it stops here. "Nothing to do with the president's campaign or campaign activity.", my dotard. I'm pretty sure if Manafort wanted to expound on other topics, Robert Mueller wouldn't say , "let's not get off topic, here.".
If you think about it, why does any salesman give you something for free? Manfort worked for free. Not. Manfort worked for a bigger deal. I really think Putin and his buddies were working all kinds of angles for all types of players they were hoping would get into position. All they needed was a door. Mr. Obama had kept that door slammed right into the face of Putin. Trump, Manafort, Flynn, etc. put an open sign. A bunch of amateurs playing at politics were just right up the alley for the salesman.....who worked for free. And if you really think he worked for free, I have a bridge to sell you.
1
The fact that Manafort worked for the Kremlin for at least a decade before "donating" his services for free to the Donald J Trump campaign is more damning, not less.
Trump had plenty of time to identify Paul Manafort as an unregistered Foreign Agent, but it has become clear that for admission to Trump's inner circle that is a plus not a minus.
Financier Bill Browder gave first hand testimony regarding the Foreign Agents Registration Act enforcement to the Senate Judiciary Committee. From 1996 to 2005, his firm, Hermitage Capital, was one of the largest investment advisers in Russia.
In Congressional testimony, Browder claims Vladimir Putin and Russia's Federal Security Service were behind the 1999 Russian apartment bombings that killed 300 Russian citizens, while blaming such on foreign terrorists.
It led to a successful coup d'état coordinated by the Russian state security to win public support for a new full-scale war in Chechnya and to consolidate Putin's power.
In 2003, Putin arrested Russia's richest man on corruption charges, put him in a cage, seized all assets, and told Russia's remaining oligarchs that going forward he would take 50% - personally.
Since then Putin has invested in state terrorism (North Korea, Syria, Uzbekistan, etc.) and attacked western democratic elections.
No wonder China prospers while Russia stagnates economically.
Wealthy US interests who support the GOP-Kremlin alliance should understand the Putin-Trump business model well.
2
What more can be said? The constant and convoluted connections between the trump campaign and administration is more and more apparent and shocking to us rational Americans. The influence of a foreign and corrupt country is striking and so troubling. Where are those anti-Communist republicans during this obvious take-over of American ideals and democracy? Oh right, fighting mightily to get tax benefits for an unworthy and obesely engorged .01% of our population. I just don’t know how to feel any more. Sickened, heartsick, angry, all of the above? I am hopeful for the handcuffs and indictments.
2
"while those in the eastern half near the city of Donetsk oriented themselves toward Russia,"
This is very misleading. The part of Ukraine that leans toward Russia was not "half" - more like 1/16 at best .
The Putin magic thinking that facilitated brexit and Trump's election seems to have affected the thinking of the author here.
I'm not Ukrainian or particularly partial but can see and smell Russian propaganda all the way from here.
1
Manafort is imho guilty of treason- if not in the letter, then certainly in the spirit of the law.
This has been known for almost 2 years now.
Read Ann Applebaum for the skinny on this neck of the woods she's been reporting from for these many years.
She's no liberal by any stretch but sees and describes the lay of the land there quite eloquently.
1
Follow the money laundering trail. Emails from Trump confidant and lawyer, Michael Cohen and reputed Russian ¨mobster¨, Felix Sater- who held positions with the Trump Real Estate Organization, detail repeated attempts by Mr. Trump and his Real Estate Organization to gain a foothold in Moscow by building a Trump Tower Luxury Hotel in partnership with the Agalarev family. In addition, past articles suggest money laundering through Trump Soho and other properties managed and owned by the Trump Real Estate operations.
Same thing. Manafort was hired to put Putin’s man in the White House,
2
Manafort's indictment was a clear message to the dictator in chief. The real question is how to get the American public to pay attention to the depth of the ties. The internet has exacerbated ADD and Fox news has colluded with Trump to brainwash about 1/3 of the American population. It's unbelievable how much a few rich and greedy Oligarchs can pervert the American democracy.
1
Manafort wanted to do to America what he did to Ukraine. Perhaps his buddy Vladimir has designs on Alaska (formerly Russian) as he did for Crimea - instigating the Russian alt-right proxies in the USA as he did in Ukraine using non-uniformed Russian proxy fighters in Ukraine.
Bottom line, trump is Putin's Yanukovych AND Putin's man in Washington. With trump, it really is about Putin, and Russia.
1
Let me go over just one paragraph of this article to summarize the dubious quality and intellectual dishonesty of this article:
"In November 2013, after on-and-off flirtations with the West, Mr. Yanukovych rejected a pending agreement to join the European Union. The Ukrainian people took to the streets again, starting in a Kiev square known as the Maidan. Mr. Yanukovych ordered his special forces to shoot and kill over 100 unarmed demonstrators and subsequently fled the country, despite a political transition settlement brokered by the United States and European Union, with Russian assent."
1) There was never such a thing as an "agreement to join the European Union". There was a trade agreement between EU and Ukraine, which was about trade, tariffs and quotas, nothing about "joining EU"
2) There is no evidence that Yanukovych ordered to kill the protesters. The protesters were armed and they started the shooting. Here, even the BBC reported this: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31359021
1
This Russian thing is starting to mimic a 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon game. Trump hires his campaign who hires Manafort who was hired by Yanukovych who was hired by the country of Ukraine which is a subsidary of Russia of which Putin is president who used to be Prime Minister but is now president again and we all know Trump has russian connections via his business interests and of course the election was rigged by the russians just look at the Facebook ads and Trump does have a Facebook page and so did his campaign and so on and so on and so on---
1
Why not include the Russian connections disclosed through Manaofrt's indictment, which largely come from Russia? Follow the money whenever you want to know what evil lurks in the hearts of men.
1
Trump has always been out of the closet about his man-crush on Vladimir, and Manafort is a political pimp eager to serve the sinister needs of bad boys like Ferdinand Marcos, Angola guerrilla leader Jonas Savimbi, and Viktor F. Yanukovych of Ukraine. Working for Trump simply fits the pattern.
We cannot remind ourselves often enough of the ugly fact that Donald modeled his gawd-awful persona on none other than his patron, that real-life monster, Roy Cohn. It's some sort of a guy-thing, this hanging out with thugs, like Frank Sinatra always grooving down and low with the mob. Somehow they they will be taken seriously if the snarl and swagger.
We've been treated during the past nine months to the witticism of "Hire a clown and you get a circus". But the reality facing us in to so funny. The grim truth is that the minority-electorate has hired a bunch of gangsters we have gotten a crime syndicate.
2
Trump? one by one, the inept cabinet members and policy wonk-wanabee-nobodies have been and will be shown to have three-plus traits in common - can you guess?
RUSSIA TODAY, RUSSIA YESTERDAY, RUSSIA IN THE FUTURE (they hope).
Today's reveal serving is Wilbur Ross. How deep? very!
Manafort 's reveal has just begun. Farkas is on target.
And on it goes!
Obviously: the qualification for advising or sitting on a team with the now president is?
Wanted:white men with steel chain link relationships to Russia. No Department experience needed because the president is the only one who counts (he just repeated).
Candidates: (psst: the WH is just a conduit for all of us to Russia and money. not a governing body)
DID I EVER THINK ANYONE COULD BE WORSE THAN NIXON? NO, BUT TRUMP IS.
1
Suckening. Manafort and Trump are is traitors who deserve to be thrown in prison.
1
Wilber Ross has a lot of explaining to do.
4
The moment in the campaign Paul J. Manafort signed on to Team Trump it was clear what he future of the USA would be, a win for dictators at any cost. Now we know Kushner had the same plan, one ignorant, managabble dictator courtesy of Russia.
3
When emotions have died down and sober historians have had time to contemplate things, I suspect that Obama's failure to act to help Ukraine will be seen as a strategic failure on the scale of Bush Jr's invasion of Iraq. Yes, that bad. For in Ukraine, we had (and to a large extent, still had) a people desperately yearning for accountable government, functioning institutions, and democratic norms - something that did not exist in all the other places that the US had put "boots on the ground" in recent years. Ukrainians were the very epitome of what Kennedy had laid out in his vision:
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. "
and yet Obama's inaction (failure to go to Kyiv, for starters), perhaps guided, incorrectly, by "larger strategic concerns" or nonsensical ideas such as the idea that Russia might attack the US militarily, failed them utterly. And in so doing, the US failed not only Ukraine, but led to the series of events where now we have an emboldened Russia on various fronts.
But, at least the Times is finally calling the Russian invasion of Ukraine for what it is. At least there's that. Now if the times would only complete the rest of the picture and refer to Putin as the neo-Fascist that he truly is (in a way that the incompetent Trump is not).
3
The fact that she's a fellow at the Atlantic Council says it all
2
The only thing that should matter to Mueller about Manafort is which of his skill sets he brought to the Trump campaign. Of course every campaign and administration makes outreach to foreign countries but, really, is there ANYONE in the Trump circle who does not have a connection to Russia, Russia, Russia and instead maybe a connection to, say, Belgium? And we're not talking about "Gee wasn't that Hermitage some museum - Catherine was some collector"; we're talking about meeting after meeting with Russian operatives looking to help Trump win the election and 1) lying that they took place and then 2) lying about what was discussed when caught. The only question remaining is who took the bait and how far up the campaign it went. Are you listening AG Sessions and VP Pence? For the nothing-to-see-here crowd it's a big yawn. Their guy won so let's get our tax cuts and kill Obamacare. For the rest of us it's seeing America become a banana or maybe even a potato pancake republic. Mueller probably already has an idea from the various surveillance operations what happened - it's a question of playing out his indictments. But give me a break...it's not a secret handshake that gets you into the Trump club it's a connection to Putin which we now find includes doddering old Wilbur. The Bank of Cyprus was a Ross investment and a money laundering centre... is that a service anyone connected to Russia might have a use for?
4
One thing that troubles me is the parallel between the way Yanukovych targeted Julia Timoschenko (he did "lock her up") and Trump's fixation on Hillary Clinton. Is this taken from a Manafort playbook: "find an ambitious and intelligent woman that you can relentlessly attack and against whom you can provoke resentment"
7
The only people colluding with the Russians were the Hillary campaign and the DNC. However, since nobody can find the first voter who was influenced by Russia, the entire matter seems a little silly. Hillary may have created a dossier with Russian help but nobody paid any attention.
2
Wow
1
Call and response - Russia:Hillary; Russia:Hillary - repeat.
Keep it up Trumptsters until you realize NO ONE CARES ABOUT HILLARY.
I voter for her, but if she goes down she goes down. I could care less.
3
You appear to have skipped a key step in the equation.
Start over at the beginning.
1
Around mid-July 2016, in the run up to the 2016 Republican Presidential convention, pro-Cruz delegate Diana Denman pushed for a party platform calling for “lethal defensive weapons” to Ukraine so Ukraine could oppose pro-Russian rebels. Such language would have been in line with the principles of the Truman Doctrine and with the goal of Ukraine becoming a NATO member. Trump’s henchmen shot down the proposal.
Manafort was forced out a month later.
Today, Trump is claiming Manafort’s exit came after Trump learned of Manafort’s potential conflicts with other nations. But this is absurd; surely Trump knew his henchmen opposed Denman’s proposed platform language. And surely Trump knew the deletion was clearly pro-Russian.
Yes, Manafort’s indictment is clearly about Russia, not Ukraine.
18
Are you suggesting that the indictment against Paul Manafort is politically motivated? If Robert Mueller trumped up an indictment against Manafort because he opposed adding a plank to the Republican party platform, he should be fired. However, the Obama administration also refused to give weapons to Ukraine. Citing opposition to the Denman proposals as evidence of collusion is absurd. No everyone wants to restart the Cold War Trump campaign on promises to improve U.S,-Russian relations. That's not illegal.
We Americans continue about our daily routines: work, school, after school practice, walk the dog, go to the store, watch TV, the dishes, whatever. We don't understand the depth of Russian infiltration into our election and the real damage it has done to our democracy. And we won't as long as Fox and Friends tell us that it's just Clinton whining about her loss. It's a very sad time for us. I hope we survive this administration until we once again have REAL leadership in the white house and in Congress.
59
Look no further than the removal of strong language in the Republican Party platform condemning Russian aggression to understand Manafort's allegiance to Putin and how it was undermining the U.S. interests in Eastern Europe. Who was Chairman of the Trump campaign at that point? Oh, it was Paul " I will work for free " Manafort. Anyone who thinks that Manafort did this campaign work out of the goodness of his heart is deluding themselves.
50
Hilary is coming out VERY STRONG to-day - if not about Russia then about the absolute gall of Ms Brazile - taking a little leak and using it to divide the Democratic Party. Clinton isn't going to stand for that. Or hopefully any future elected office?
This is just the tip of what will surely be the greatest scandal to ever affect America.
After the Flynn arrests, look for Felix Sater, Michael Cohen, Jared Kushner, Wilbur Ross, Steve Mnuchin, Dana Rohrabacher, Devin Nunes, and all 3 Trump children to be charged with crimes. Jeff Sessions is likely cooperating but he WILL be disbarred.
The GOP itself is in severe legal trouble, and there are many credible sources claiming that both Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan may also be involved in this wide-ranging conspiracy.
It's absolutely sickening that the U.S. has been under siege by a money-laundering reality star jerk - along with his caviar cabinet thugs.
We can only hope that the damage done can be reversed; the sooner this happens the better.
42
Ryan and McConnell knew early on about the Russian interference. Even after being approached by the Dems for an alliance to bring it to light they refused. Some would call that collusion.
They're ALL crooks . They just wear a different 'identifier'.
One thing simply doesn't make sense in this Manafort business, and nobody (except Mueller, I hope) seems to have picked up on it. How did did Paul Manafort just walk in off the street and become Trump's campaign manager? Trump didn't even know the guy. So what did he bring to the party? There had to be something. There had to be a deal. The Republicans didn't just take condemnation of Russia's Ukraine interference out of their party platform for no reason. What was the deal? Where's the fix?
48
Roger Stone ran a lobbying firm with Manafort, Stone as we know now is a Trump whisperer. Before his lucrative foreign gigs he was a well established Republican operative. He also knew Trump, he owned an apartment in Trump tower.
Or did he know him? Because he bought a unit in Trump Tower, presumably indirectly with money from the Russian supporters of the Ukrainian pro Russia president.
Trump had earlier dealings with Manfort.
This article ought to make every American patriot's blood run cold. At another historical moment, we'd judge that Trump and his minions have been in the process of selling us out to Russia. All these minions, now including Wilbur Ross at commerce, have been intent on monetizing their offices, as Manafort said to Derapaska, "how can this make us whole?" If our nation survives , historians will treat our current congress harshly, and they will deserve it. But the citizens don't deserve it.
17
Manafort worked for dictators a long time. It seems he shares their values. Trump shares their values. Americans who voted for them sold their country to them. Trump and Bannon and most republicans want an authoritarian dictatorship and his generals support it.
19
Manafort worked on the 'image' of whoever was paying him. He's not Mother Teresa. For him - and the thousands like him - it's all about the 'presentation'. It's called earning a living.
I believe Trump has operated under the rule of always surround yourself with the people who have the goods to takes you down. I would guess Manafort has the goods on Trumps own money laundering crimes, along with Wilbur Ross. Not just coincidence that Trump said if Mueller looked into his own finances that was crossing a red line.
11
Somebody might just have leaked some of that from a law office in Bermuda. But we shouldn't read it because it's 'stolen' - non-admissible evidence.
And most of it ran through Cyprus.
The indictment against Paul Manafort is really about Ukraine, money laundering, and tax evasion, not about Russia or Vladimir Putin. It involves the 2010 Ukraine presidential election, not the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The indictment makes no mention of Russian meddling in the 2016 election or Manafort’s work for the Trump campaign, even though Special Counsel Robert Mueller is supposed to be investigating “Russian government efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election and related matters.”
Paul Manafort’s work in Ukraine, which began in 2006, wasn’t about Russia. Ethnic Russians are Ukraine’s largest ethnic minority. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Party of Regions was created to uphold the rights of ethnic Russians and speakers of the Russian language in Ukraine. Viktor Yanukovych was born in Ukraine, but is a member of Ukraine’s ethnic Russian minority. Beginning in 2014, Manafort helped the party expand it base and political power, enabling Yanukovych to narrowly win Ukraine’s 2010 election. There were allegations of vote rigging on both sides, but public opinion polls predicted Yanukovych would win. The indictment doesn’t alleged that Manafort work for the Part of Regions was improper or illegal.
2
If the Party of Regions was created to uphold the rights of ethnic Russians, why is Manafort’s Work for it not about Russia?
Why did Yanukovych flee to Russia? Why did Ptin’s Troops invade and annex Crimea?
Why are so many Trump defenders suddenly becoming Russia supporters, advocating not only pro-Russian positions but accepting at face value the Russian defense of its actions?
Is it so hard to accept the possibility that trump’s foreign policy with regards to Russia might be influenced by people with hidden agendas?
You got it! Share it!
There are still ties to Russian oligarch's and Manafort. Those ties are what Manfort was worried about when he tried to negate the Magnitsky act along with Jarrod and Don Jr. at Trump Tower. Don't think Trump didn't know.
It hardly seems to matter just how close Mnafort was to Putin--he became Trumps campaign chair when his latest job had been to subvert the western aspirations of Ukraine and keep it in Moscow's sphere. The fact that he worked on behalf of the murderous Yanukovych alone should have disqualified him for any US campaign job. How does a guy that the famously crony and sycophant loving Trump barely knew even get that job? Whose advice was Donnie taking?
18
It's becoming clearer that this was an operation orchestrated from Moscow. Putin is desperate to overturn the sanctions and Magnitsky Act, and destabilizing the US democratic system would be further sweet revenge. He found the perfect tools in Trump and his morally compromised campaign officials and administration. Whether it's financial leverage or fear of compromising information being exposed, the Kremlin has their tentacles deeply embedded in this administration. Work fast, Mr. Mueller! Our democracy is dying.
13
Putin's only interested in Russia and incidentally any other country that helps him Russia. We do the same things but IN a number of other countries.
Excessive attention has been focused on the Russia probe. The fundamental issue is the content of the information dissembled on social media, not the source of that content. It is less important to determine the source of racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-Semitic and otherwise divisive information circulated on the internet than to determine how to limit the dissemination of such content or how to educate citizens to a level where they can determine the truth or falsity of the content. What does it matter if Russia or some U.S. alt-right or radical fundamentalist group posts the same information? The Times, as with most responsible news sources, carefully vets stories before publication. No such self-imposed controls exist on the internet.
1
Manafort owed Russian interests what was it $17,000,000? What better way to relieve his debt than to get as close to Trump as possible and work for him? That's why Manafort offered to work for Trump for free too. Manafort was to be Putin's ear and conduit for top secret information that had Manafort stayed with Trump would have no longer been top secret.
14
There's good reason to believe that those 'loans' were actually commissions for Manafort's assistance with laundering many millions of dollars, and never expected to be repaid. These guys are slick and slimy.
The Czech is in the Male? It's an old gambit in big bidness.
This man has no loyalty to a country nor any one person. Like many of his cronies, the contest is about an abundance of wealth and it does not matter how it is acquired.
It's the 21st century and wealth buys power, a seat at the table of the few.
7
He like so many men of the whirled, probably has a number of different passports. If you're famous, they'll let you. How many does big Donnie have?
We know from the words coming directly out of the mouth of at least one of the Trump sons that their company had, "a lot of money coming in from Russia." We also know that Dresdner Bank has made loans to the Trump organization while many, if not all other Western Banks have refused to do business with him. We know that Kushner went to the Russian Bank that is an agent of the Russian spy service and Putin. It is not a coincidence that Manafort was engaged with Putin and the Oligarchs. He was able to work with Trump because he was aligned with them. Trump is entirely dependent financially on the Russians as all his other ventures have either failed or could not make up for the ones that did. It's only a matter of time before Mueller puts it all together. Wilbur Ross wasn't a guy who worked with Trump all of his life, he's a guy that he got from the Russians. Trump is the "Manchurian Candidate."
13
Apparantly, Manafort helped develop Trump's plan to get elected, and then, in the background (according to his daughter's texts and other sources) has continued to support potentially criminal links between Trump and Russia. In essence he is apparently once again working to support a covert Russian aim to weaken a Democracy, and turn it into another Russian subservient dictatorship, for personal profit. American's better read-up on this, and show support for Mueller, because he is all that stands between our freedoms, and Trump's scheme to become a soviet-like Mafia King of the USA.
Putin and his cronies are smart, and ruthless. We are at a crossroad. If Trump has been involved in illegal and treasonous activities, the FBI needs to arrest Trump and every traitor affiliated with him. And we then need to stand up fearlessly to Putin by first upgrading our cyber security Nationally, covering everything from banking, to utilities, to communications, to election machine security; and then hacking Russia back in a manner that will make both their Mafia oriented government and their criminally oriented populace wish that they had accepted their diminished position in the world, and worked on their own problems.
8
I am finding this world we live in to be quite depressing. In just a single day I have learned of the treasure trove of documents from the paradise papers and more implications of White House shenanigans, a guy shot a snow leopard and posted a picture of it on social media. (How exhilarating it must have been for him.) And of course the tragic shooting in Texas. And all of this as a result of looking at my cell phone this morning to see that there is enough information to indict Flynn and his son.
My cell phone is great, does lots of things but it what it does mostly is depress me and so beginning tomorrow I am shutting it down from 8-6 pm and see how my spirits feel. I’m going to set aside an hour to read the news, answer a text or two and go through my email quickly, and then shut it down. I have got to wean myself off this thing and take a more selfish attitude that I don’t need to hear or read this stuff 24/7 or pretend to interested in things I’m really not.
6
He was involved for 10 years. And Trump, when he hired him, knew nothing about it? Right. The more likely scenario is Trump didn't care what he was doing. He saw it as another "shooting" on Fifth Ave. And he was right. But the laws of the United States, regardless of what Trump supporters feel, are there to address these situations. So Mr. Mandatory and Mr. Gates will likely be sentenced to jail. Until Trump pardons them. And the faithful will cheer. What's a few more nails in the coffin of this presidency? After all there are plenty of pall bearers.
9
Who introduced Manafort to Trump? Do I remember a Mercer was involved? I would like to know more about the Mercers and how they are connected if they are. There are way too many Trump associates whose money has links to Putin and his oligarch interfaces with western governments. Investments, money laundering via real estate, parties and eastern European girl friends (Trump's wife) abound. Statistically very odd except everyone seems to hiding money in foreign accounts to avoid taxes or controls.
21
The average American doesn't know what Manafort did for Victor Yanukovych as a "political consultant". Did Mr. Yanukovych not know how to run a campaign for office in Ukraine? If he didn't, why would he hire an American for advice about how to do that? That's as odd as if Trump had hired a Ukrainian to act as a political adviser on how to get elected president of the United States.
The average American needs to know what Manafort DID for all of the money he was paid. I'm sure he wasn't advising Yanukovych about the design and content of yard signs to be placed in Ukrainian neighborhoods. Surely, his value to Yanukovych and his backers, including Putin, was what Manafort was able to do to influence Americans to favor them in the Ukrainian elections.
We need to know more specifics about what Manafort actually did for that money.
21
He got Yanukovich, a blatant crook, elected President in Ukraine on three separate occasions. He might also have been the reason America paid $6 billion into a 'political development fund' to move EUkrainia 'into the future'.
For Yanukovich 'had to go' when he borrowed $14 billion from Russia after 'the west' turned him down.
There's no practical way even someone who dresses more sharply than Mr. Manafort could have spent as much on himself as he claims to have spent on his wardrobe. Likewise his hundreds of thousands of dollars in gardening bills are FAR out of proportion to the size and landscaping quality of his Long Island property.
Has Mr. Mueller looked into the very real likelihood that those bills were for clothing and landscaping purchased for others, i.e. bribes?
11
Excellent clarity regarding the role Manafort played. I hadn't seen this detail before now. Thank you.
2
Pundits are busy downplaying Manafort's arrest, saying Papodapolis story is more important. It's because Manafort's arrest was already expected, a silly reason to dismiss it. Manafort's got the story to tell.
He moved into Trump Tower a year before the campaign, undoubtedly to work his way into Trump's circle. This wasn't the work of an ideologue, but that of an agent, which is what he is.
The GOP is so terrified of the U.S. national population that they've abandoned reason. Manafort was clearly a Russian sycophant at the party convention. But Republicans didn't mind.
The GOP is suffering a slow-motion melt down, and Manafort may nail the coffin shut. He's not going to defend the Republican party, nor the President. He knows the GOP is despised by the Republican base. He knows that Trump has no loyalty. Why should he sacrifice for either?
Manafort has a story to tell and I think he's going to sing.
5
Yanukovych was elected president of Ukraine so that those who voted for him should also be under suspicion as 'Putin's people', if the author's logic is to be followed. The US embassy in Kiev had cordial and sometimes constructive relations with Yanukovych while he was in office and attempted to mediate an end to the Maidan crisis. Was this done on behalf of Putin?
Does this not seem crazy to anyone else? I feel that 1950s are back
2
It would be interesting to also shed light on how Manafort was recommended to Trump to run his campaign. How far back do these two go? Considering what is described in this article, Manafort worked for the un-democratic and corrupt forces in Ukraine versus the democratic. He enriches himself and Yanukovych flees to Russia, then next thing we know, he's in charge of the Republican presidential campaign. What little Russian birdie whispered in Trump's ear that Manafort would be the perfect choice?
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This is all gnashing of teeth, of minor consequence. We the people have lost control. Gerrymander rules, Republicans rule, and Republicans will continue to rule yet more aggressively.
6
I get the impression, given the company Trump kept/keeps, that he wanted to be in on the deals just like Manafort. Unfortunately, everyone on the Russian side recognized he's too stupid to contribute much - so there probably are no deals directly connected to Trump for that reason alone. He could be usefully manipulated by others though if he were in the White house and that seems to be the plan that is working.
6
By now, all this stuff seems obvious. It looks like Trump was in on it, but even if he wasn't, his ignorance would have been just as bad.
7
If one yearns to gravitate toward war with Russia -- as some apparently do -- then the quickest way is to recruit, or attempt to recruit, former parts of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact into membership in NATO. NATO was formed, and is understood by Russians, to be a military alliance hostile to Russia. When the Soviet bloc was dissolving, we did promise not to extend our NATO armed forces further east.
Imagine, if you can, former confederate states, now not part of the USA, then joining the former Warsaw Pact. It would be like that from a Russian viewpoint. How would we react under such circumstances?
3
The Party of Regions for which Mr. Manafort apparently worked was a major part of Ukrainian politics since the presidency of Leonid Kuchma, whom it supported, and was for a time the largest political party in the country. Kuchma, like his predecessor Leonid Kravchuk and ill-fated successor Viktor Yanukovych attempted to maintain a balance between pro-Russian and and pro-Western sentiment in a country deeply divided from the moment of its independence. It is a pity that this centrist position was eventually abandoned, owing not a little to American interference in Ukrainian politics, and pitching the country into civil war. Mr. Manafort is clearly a scoundrel, as are most Americans who have dabbled in the hopelessly corrupt politics of the Ukraine. But to argue that these issues are not fundamentally Ukrainian is silly.
Yes, it is reasonable to question who Manafort was working for in the time he was running the very Russia friendly Trump campaign. It will be hard to sort out whether Trump was taking advice from a foreign agent, if there was criminal violations, or if it was one of seeming thousands of ethical violations.
Trump is hiding behind the notion that the behavior wasn't criminal, didn't happen on his time. Manafort was free-lancing his crooked deals. But, Trump is skirting the issue of basic corruption, and the phenomenal bad judgement he has in choosing those around him. He hires the incompetent, and supplements them with the crooked.
I really don't know if Mueller will be able to pull enough on the President to impeach him, given that the GOP wants their agenda, even if it it means we end up at war with North Korea or colluding with a Russian strong man. But really, how can so many still believe that Trump is anything close to good for the nation?
6
It is not illegal to make money.
And it is not illegal to make a lot of money.
It seems, however, that when someone finds an avenue to the sort of big money which Manafort did, that business ethics get pushed to limits.
If he pushed to the point of laundering money in order to avoid taxes, he is personally in trouble.
If he and tthe Russions used modern social media to propagandize to the point of slander and libel against the free world, we are all in trouble.
5
Of all the things that have happened, perhaps the most illuminating to get to the bottom of is how the GOP platform on Crimea was changed. If there was interference in our election by the Russians, this is the first quid pro quo. Who initiated the change and how was it carried out, given that it had to be voted on by the Republican National Committee? It certainly appears to have been a little gift to Putin, if not a demonstration of behind-the-scenes influence by someone beholden to Putin.
Why is it so hard to expose the actors who implemented this change? Is Mueller investigating it? Is the GOP not beholden to Republicans everywhere? Why are conservative news outlets not demanding to know how this demonstration of corruption was committed in their house? Why are Republican lawmakers not demanding this information? Paul Ryan? Mitch McConnell? Is anyone home?
5
When Sarah Huckabee said that in the press briefing, she sounded to me like metaphorically saying "I got thing to do either with the priest, Mr. Huckabee nor his religion". It was no weird.
Manafort did what he did for money.
Donald Trump also played with the system for money. He told us that was "smart."
Members of his administration have shown themselves to be similarly motivated. Let's not indulge in a quest for equivalencies to diminish that reality. If Democrats have shown similar ethical lapses, it just proves that they are also motivated by greed.
What are we going to do about it? When similar corruption is been revealed in the past, there have been movements to counter it. Reforms, real reforms and not just superficial changes, have been made. Unless we rally around the banner of reform, democracy is doomed.
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Did it not occur to the Trump campaign to vet this guy? I mean, I do background checks on the people I hire to work for my company to ensure that they don’t have issues which could impact my company or their ability to do the job. Passing that is a condition of employment.
Either Trump’s team didn’t do the background check, or they did, and chose to ignore the results.
Neither one says much about the competence of Trump and his “team”, nor the people they chose to work with.
35
A third possibility, far out as it sounds: Trump hired Manafort precisely BECAUSE of his relationship with Russia, or even AT RUSSIA'S BEHEST. At this stage of the proceedings, who says anything is "impossible"? Listen to Trump lecturing Japanese manufacturers about what they ought to be doing by way of manufacturing cars in the USA (and already are doing ... oops). Living in these times requires Suspension of Disbelief.
12
Who says Manafort wasn't 'vetted'? After all, is Trump not Putin's man in the U.S.?
1
Your comment assumes bumbling ineffectiveness in having Manafort be Trump's campaign manager and ignores the "other" answer. This enables plausible deniability for Trump and party. Fortunately, Mueller is on it.
The weakness of the pushback to the unproven assertion that the Manafort/Gates indictments had nothing to do with Russia was dispiriting. Manafort was in hock to a Russian oligarch for tens of millions of dollars, and Trump has been desperate for capital since his multiple bankruptcies and his inability to get financing from American banks.
A thorough investigation of the finances of Trump and his circle of campaign advisors is a crucial aspect of the investigation. If you're investigating possible collusion, looking at a possible financial motive is basic.
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We should note, as the Washington Post reports, that at least nine people in Trump's orbit had contact with the Russians during the campaign and transition. http://wapo.st/2hKKUOq
These include the current Attorney General of the Untied States, the former National Security Advisor, the President's son and son in-law, members of his foreign policy advisory committee, as well as campaign chair Manafort. What interests do they have in common?
I find it difficult to believe that Trump's ''data guru,'' Brad Parscale, who had done some websites for Ivanka and Jared, made up and managed the voter targeting operation that swung MI, PA and WI to Trump all by himself. Cambridge Analytica, Facebook, Twitter, and yes, Russian bots wre involved. And certainly Jared's high tech investing patterns and partners *might* have had something to do with it. What interests do they have in common?
Mueller qutie properly seems to be investigating this as if it were a criminal conspiracy that was aided and abetted by a foreign adversary seeking to undermine our government. We are fortunate to have distinguished public servants who made careers upholding the rule of law in this moment of peril.
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According to the indictment against Manafort, it’s really about Ukraine, not Russia, and it’s about the 2010 Ukraine election, not the 2016 U.S. election. There were allegations of vote rigging, but public opinion polls had predicted Viktor F. Yanukovych would win because of strong support from Ukraine’s ethnic Russians, not because of Vladimir Putin’s support. The indictment doesn’t mention Putin and doesn’t accuse Manafort of engineering Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine. The Mueller investigation was supposed to be about Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, but the Manafort indictment makes no mention of Russian election meddling or the 2016 U.S. election.
5
No reason that the indictment can’t be amended at a later date.
Manafort was lobbying on behalf of the Yanukovych, the corrupt puppet of Putin.
What’s up with Manafort working with Putin’s Russian friend, Oleg Derapaska? How much of the $75 million allegedly laundered came from Russia, through Cyprus to the US?
5
Mr. Case - Don't be so sure. Mueller's not tipping his hand on Russia when he had already assembled enough paper evidence to indict Manafort. He'd prefer that Manafort will decide to cooperate, I'm sure, but either way, Manafort's connection to Putin, various oligarchs and money laundering will soon become clear. For example, the Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross was formerly a director of the Bank of Cypress, a favorite of Russians wishing to launder their cash. Now we learn that Ross did not disclose that he is part owner of a shipping company in which Putin's son-in-law is a principal. So many loose threads, consistently connected to Russia.
Manafort is amoral, and totally about money and power. He just extended his reach farther than most in his business would dare. His hubris grew so great that he assumed he was untouchable, perhaps because of the complexity of the crimes and his contacts and ever deeper pockets. How arrogant must you be to accept a job in the spotlight? In the era of billionaire politics and Trump's own amorality and double talk, he thought he's found a grafter's Eden.
Money laundering is the major international crime of this century. It turns major banks "crooked" - it buys politicians and elections, it influences the direction of laws made, enforced or ignored. It has - so far in other countries - also
bought police and the military.
The country should not only be scrutinizing Putin's influence, it should scrutinize the backgrounds of any individuals, who lug large amounts of ill gotten gains into this country. They have the power to destabilize the government.
The Mueller squad may have tracked massive money laundering and will be able( in time ) to align pieces of this massive jigsaw puzzle.
Reform of campaign financing with mandatory revelation of donor identity would be a step the US government could take to reduce our vulnerability to outside influence on elected officials, and on who can even run, limiting the influence of a Putin, other dictator, or oligarch. Unless there are hidden Manafort wannabes - who are ever so willing to take dirty money, but not as brazen.
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Yes. And simply requiring candidates to provide their tax returns would be a start.
122
I admire the clear analysis by Evelyn Farkas, whom I greatly admire for her clarity.
There's something shady and bizarre about the number of ties Trump's campaign and administration with deep ties to
America's greatest adversary.
Manaforte in particular seems straight out of central casting for a Martin Scorsese film. Maybe the most colorful except for Carter Page, Manaforte seems to have had a big influence on the general direction and tone of the campaign.
It should worry every American (but alas doesn't seem to) that there's such a pro-Russian bias in this administration.
It's a truism that people are defined by the company they keep. Assuming this investigation is allowed to proceed, a pretty big IF given the attitudes in Congress and our president, I think people will be blown away by the forces driving this presidency.
Yesterday, Wilbur Ross, tomorrow who? The most important cabinet positions have ties to Russian money, and our social media companies enjoyed Russian investments from Russian oligarchs.
The web of corruption, deceit, self-interest, and blatant lying permeating this presidency is simply astounding, Like many, I want the full truth and nothing but.
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Christine, I generally share your views and perspective, including that of Ms. Farkas. One additional huge RED FLAG to keep in mind is the Russian investor who has penetrated Silicon Valley with piles of Putin- and Kremlin-related cash - Yuri Milner. He has insinuated his way into leading tech giants such as Twitter and FaceBook, both of which played major roles in our 2016 Presidential campaign in receiving cash for "fake news" ads placed by bots and trolls controlled by Russia. I believe that the FBI will uncover this via their close examination of the campaign activities of former, and reluctantly fired by Tweety after serving only 24 days, NSA Director Michael Flynn and his son. Those details have yet to emerge...
2
The Mueller investigation is running like a Mafia probe. George is turning state's evidence and Manafort and Gates facing a sold charge. At Manafort's age, making a deal and providing testimony and evidence on the presidential campaign is going to look rather attractive. Wilbur Ross's connections to Kremlin oligarchs, not to Silcone Valley's connections to the Kremlin, as well as Kushner's, are beginning to look like an interesting nexus close to the White House and the first family. With or without collusion between the campaign and the Kremlin, there seems to be the possibility of discomfort in the White House.
92
Paul Manafort sold himself as high-flying political consultant and fixer. But his greed and penchant for a flamboyant lifestyle also proved his undoing, prompting him to become a lackey of the Kremlin.
A decade ago Russia was awash with oil money. This allowed Manafort to cash in millions of dollars, that he laundered and parked in overseas banks and to afford an expensive wardrobe, luxury cars, real estate and antiques. Alone the charges of dodging taxes and making false statements on federal lobbing forms would land him years in jail. He is 68 and has to brace himself for a miserable life ahead.
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"Vladimir Putin — who had already invaded and occupied part of the Republic of Georgia"
Not true. Russian troops were stationed in those two regions as peacekeepers for the UN, authorized by the Security Council.
Why? Because when Georgia split off from the USSR, those two regions refused to go with Georgia. They are ethnic minorities who just don't trust or want to be in a country with Georgia.
Georgia NEVER had those two regions. It always wanted them.
It tried to take them by force. It did so with a massive bombardment of the Russian peacekeepers, using the entire artillery of the whole Georgian Army.
Russia replied. But then Russia pulled back. Russia has not occupied any territory other than what is authorized by the UN peacekeeping definition of areas never controlled by Georgia.
This is important here because the attack by Georgia was engineered by American neocons in a string of visits. It was a dump idea, real lunacy.
Now the same group wants to push the US into the Ukraine mess. Now the same group delights in the chance to use the Trump hoopla to further its adventures in Ukraine.
Sure investigate Trump. Don't be manipulated into wars and foreign adventures of the neocon variety under cover of investigating Trump.
Campaign advisers are hired to win for their candidate, not to vet the candidate's other supporters and pass judgment on who is worthy to win. Every candidate on both sides has campaign advisers. It is just a job. It is what they do.
25
Is it too far a stretch to believe that Putin used the situation in Georgia to disrupt their government in an effort to weaken it especially as it was leaning toward the west?
The same process was used in Ukraine.
The thought that it might be a neocon plot seems way too farfetched. As has been said, the simple solution is usually the correct solution.
12
Criminals with convictions just go to jail, to serve their sentences. It is their jobs. It's what they'll do.
1
A geopolitical struggle for influence in Georgia may also be viewed in a context of infrastructure investment to profit from petrochemical resource extraction and distribution.
While the GOP are budgeting in the red by $1.5 Trillion in order to dig a hole of debt in which to bury the US federal government, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wants to outbid China to build the 21st Century Silk Road?
Which consortia of petrochemical financiers have $1 Trillion to build toll roads and pipelines to Turkey, Libya, Ukraine, and Russia?
As Secretary of State, it is not exactly Tillerson's role to guide reinvestment in US infrastructure; but, in the absence of credible initiatives of the GOP and Trump Administration in that regard, this focus upon profit from new Asian transcontinental petrochemical toll roads makes clear what this Administration has always been about.
It isn't obvious what this initiative has to do with creating more jobs for American workers, many of whom haven't had a pay raise in 30 years.
"Tillerson has raised the possibility of countering Mr. Xi’s $1 trillion “one belt, one road” initiative of roads, pipelines and other projects linking China to Europe and Asia with “alternative financing measures, financing structures.” But where the money might come from is a major question."
-- "In Asia, Mr. Trump Is Met by Doubt", NY Times Editorial Board, 2017/11/05
Manafort helped destabilize Ukraine and took money that fleecing the people of Ukraine and Russia. In addition to the millions paid out, Manafort accepted between $12-$20 million for work he never completed -- unless changing the Republican Party platform counts. Or contributing to the peace plan between Ukraine and Russia that Trump lawyer Michael Cohen pitched to Trump shortly after he gained office to provide cover to lift sanctions on Russia. Manafort's laundered millions were paid to the Bank of Cyprus which also snares Labor Sec. Wilber Ross who lead the bank, which has long been known as Putin's bank and a front for Russian Mafia money-laundering.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/19/us/politics/donald-trump-ukraine-russ...
143
Manafort clearly went to Ukraine to make a lot of money, and make it for a cause about which most Americans couldn’t care less because they believe it doesn’t affect them. And they could have a case. That alone is not illegal, even though some who now find it ideologically convenient to demonize him might find it immoral – probably because he didn’t dedicate his life to missionary work. If indeed he knowingly avoided paying U.S. income taxes on that money and it can be proven, then he’s toast and should be toast. If not, he’ll offer Mueller a Bronx Cheer. It’s become SO easy these days to demonize someone just for making money and to be ideologically opposed to the demonizers.
But it’s getting old. Fox News undoubtedly now will dredge up yet again Billary’s speeches for beaucoup bucks paid for, via one means or another, by Russians, and archly ask what favors THEY might have provided; and take it further by asking what favors may have been provided other foreigners to buy contributions to the Foundation.
Manafort went to Ukraine years ago not as an emissary of the U.S. government but as a private citizen who made his living by flogging the interests of clients. One might as justifiably condemn the actions of Democratic lobbyists that infest D.C. by doing precisely the same thing.
And he did all this long before he had anything to do with Trump or his campaign. Stick to the facts: the only one that really matters is whether he knowingly evaded paying taxes that he owed.
29
Aside from the Manafort's failing to register as a foreign agent, and failure to report income, there's a question of whether he acted as a conduit for money laundering, and what purpose this served. It's not old and cold, its red hot, and we have no real details yet.
Further, it bears on the question of how Trump came to choose this man, the one with a Russian connection, out of the hordes of other equally amoral arrangers and fixers ...
As you object strenuously to the focus on extraneous issues - what's with your own reference to the Clintons? You used a ref. to Fox as a means of introducing more irrelevant "stuff."
94
It makes life simple taking a libertarian view, doesn't it? You conveniently leave out two things that make this more than case of tax evasion: (1) Manafort's influence on the GOP platform regarding Ukraine, and (2) Russia's interference in the 2016 election, which must be investigated -- probing Trump's associates' connections with Russia is an appropriate part of that investigation.
53
At the heart of Manafort’s political games was the aim of stopping US sanctions against Russia. It seems to have worked. Although Congress passed a law applying more sanctions against Russia, this hasn’t been carried out because the department charged with applying sanctions has no staff, which seems to be a growing feature of this dysfunctional administration.
16