I think this is excellent reportage by these three writers. But I also think we are being too tough on Paulie. He never deceived and took money from the public. He took only from banks. Paulie's crime is that he is not a thief but a poor money manager. He spends more income than comes in. He should ask himself, "What am I doing with six houses?" Paulie is more to be pitied than indicted. Trump is of the same breed, but had tens of millions from his father as backup. If you buy into my rationale, and I hope you do, then we must ask Mueller to release Paulie with a severe warning.
6
Trump can witness first hand Manafort's plight when one establishes off shore accounts, keeps several sets of books, understates income, and laundering money to evade paying taxes. As Giuliani says "it's about to blow up".
15
Does the defense fund take Russian rubles?
14
Millions of dollars in income, but tax fraud.
$1,500 shirts, but bank fraud.
Daddy must be real proud.
8
Sorry, Paul, but I have no pity for you. I know many honest people who are working themselves half to death for long hours at hard, physical labor-type jobs for low wages, just to make ends meet in our wonderful hyper-capitalist economy. Greedy bottom-feeders like you deserve just what I hope you are about to get----some serious jail time.
45
I have never understood why some people need excessive amounts of money to make them "happy". I served my country for 4 years during the Vietnam War, it was difficult, but it made me happy to serve my country and be with others who felt the same.
38
Congratulations Mr Manafort. You scored a 100% for the Seven Deadly Sins: Lust, Greed, Envy, Pride, Wrath, Sloth, Gluttony. Looks like you scored a 0% for the Seven Virtues: Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice, Prudence, Temperance and Fortitude. Maybe you can work on the virtues when you spend some time in prison reflecting on your life of crime.
43
It is impossible to imagine that Manafort's deeply corrupt and criminal mindset only emerged in a "Wild West" Ukraine. Although on a smaller remunerative scale, the seeds for his later illegal financial acts of epic proportions had to have found fertile ground during his earlier, Washington wheeler dealer years. One wonders what hidden, bad behaviors occurred then and what corresponding amounts of dirty money were involved. Perhaps Mr. Manafort will have ample time for a salacious tell-all autobiography, in secure federal accommodations, once his criminal trials are behind him. A national book tour will not be available, however.
17
(Manfort was a man) who worked for the Trump campaign at no charge to intimate that for a man of his fabulous wealth, a salary was trivial.
Does this sound familiar? Didn't our Money Launderer in Chief make the same claim (while ripping off his own charity).
55
Take "Paul Manifort" out of the lead and substitute the name of any republican and you wouldn't have to change anything else.
29
What happens if after all the prosecution’s hard work and a subsequent guilty verdict Trump simply pardon’s him ?
10
Yes, Trump can pardon Manafort, making Trump appear even more guilty - if that is possible!
But Manafort also faces the same charges in New York
27
That’s awesome. Thank heavens
11
Every time i see this article i find it mind boggling. 50 million is enough for 10 lifetimes, yet he managed to blow thru it in 5 years. That's nuts.
30
Criminals rarely save or invest. Subconsciously the money is dirty and needs to be spent right away.
9
Ostrich jackets ain’t cheap.
14
The article is premature. I am not convinced there will be a "fall" of Paul Manafort.
The Reagan appointed, Lance Ito imitating unhinged judge in this case has done his best to tip the case to the defense.
Some have made the equally unhinged claim that by essentially making the trial 2 against 1 the judge is assuring through his rigorous antics directed towards the government there will be no path for the defense to base an appeal.
Of course not. You don't need to appeal a case you've won, and the government, due to double jeopardy, can't appeal.
4
But the charges filed by New York against Manafort are not affected b this outcome are they?
3
"[Manafort's] trial also underscores questions about how someone in such deep financial trouble rose to the top of the Trump campaign..." The article later answers the question: "Like nearly everyone else hired by the campaign, Mr. Manafort was not vetted." It appears that a con is the easiest person to con. Act rich, put on a lot of bravado, flatter Trump, and you're in.
28
Makes you confident when he is meeting with world leaders doesn't it? The mans judgement is appalling. It now seems he is taped in some form everywhere he goes. I still cannot fir get that when asked about Russia's alleged compromat that Trump did not say, "Of course there is no tape.I did not engage in that behaviour" he said, "I'm very careful. I always tell all my staff that there are little cameras everywhere." Hollywood Access, Cohen and even Omarassa beg to differ. And its always because of the same thing; stroking his ego, that gets these types of people around him.
12
Are we "exceptional" in our economic system in which people like Donald Trump and Paul Manafort become so powerful?
17
Manafort is not low-hanging fruit. He is fruit that fell off the tree months ago and is now rotten to the core.
Mueller wins multiple convictions this week. Manafort spends the rest of his days in prison. The big question is not whether he turns on Trump--I doubt he knows much of value. The big question is why elites as bad as Manafort are rarely prosecuted.
Seems like the criminal justice system is just too busy with the nonelites. Shame on every one of them.
31
Just one of many in the Trump cabal who is working for the other side. He can now spend the rest of his life behind bars.
6
Summary of this in one word...GREED!
9
The prosecution has rested.
Manafort's lawyers will file a motion for dismissal; this could only be on procedural grounds, otherwise the jury is the only possible trier of the evidence. It think it is extremely unlikely that they can prevail on a motion to dismiss, and it will be an utter bomb-shell if they do. (and if they do, even more unlikely to be dismissed with prejudice ... meaning he will just be retried.)
Otherwise, now we get to see what defense Manafort's lawyers will offer. We already know "it's all Gates' fault" ... that's not likely to work.
Frankly ... I think it is overdue for Mr. Manafort to try for a plea bargain, his position is now worse and will only keep getting worse yet unless the miracle of a not-guilty verdict happens.
Allowing it to go this far has allowed the Feds to present the evidence to the public, and it's really ugly. That makes it harder for Mueller's team to offer him a nice plea bargain.
Manafort appears to be throwing the rest of his life away.
4
Maybe he is trying to save his life from Putin?
9
The preponderance of evidence against Manafort seems insurmountable. However, if during the jury selection process a Trump devotee made it through to the jury. It will be a hung jury for sure. I'm sure the government will retry the case, which could take months and Mr. Manafort will have to wait in jail.
5
Very troubling the this article appears on the same day that the Government rested its case and before the defense begins. Why not let the legal process go forward before you print a piece based on hearsay such as "messages hacked from one of his daughters" - apparently written when Manafort was trying to get his life together. The charges against him are not that he worked for Trump and has fallen on financial has times, but that he committed tax evasion and bank fraud. I am no fan of Trump, but can't we wait until the jury comes in with a verdict before we crucify this man?
2
@Vin Cannon This article is referring to long-ago reported information (the hacked emails). The NYT would be remiss not to mention it in context since anyone who has been following this story already knows these details.
10
And he thought the swimming pool he moved a few feet was too shady?
12
How do you make $60 million and wind up broke! That’s not easy to do! Trump’s right. He surrounded himself with geniuses!
39
"His trial also underscores questions about how someone in such deep financial trouble rose to the top of the Trump campaign..."
Underscores questions about how Manafort rose to head the presidential campaign of Donald Trump? There's no question how their paths collided.
Which man does this most sound like: He never had anywhere near the riches he pretended to the world; he skated through life on the thin ice of corruption, greed and rabid self-interest; he liked to dabble in political manipulation to achieve his own ends; and he was propped up by the leader of an Eastern European nation once caught in the iron first of communist ideology and then squeezed to near-fiscal death by a putrid oligarchic class and kleptocrat-in-chief.
The only question here is whether Trump will follow Manafort into the cozy privilege of a single-man cell in a federal prison of his choosing. We know that if one's fate is to end up with the life that one most richly deserves, the twins will become neighbors on a protective-custody wing and bore each other with bull sessions of their biggest feats.
30
I knew most of the facts of the Manafort trial from news outlets before the trial. Newspapers have done astonishing work these past few years. So, Manafort's chicanery is really not "news" to me.
I'm waiting for DJT's aluminum tariffs to connect the dots back to Manafort's "lender" Deripaska (the winner of the former soviet "Aluminum Wars" (three murders a day at their height)). I am convinced, by a kind of intuition backed by too many facts, that DJT is "connected" too. And with those kind of mob guys? Corporate bankruptcy is not an option: if you don't pay them back, they kill you and your family, and your grandchildren (global kleptocratic mobsters).
So, DJT made sure to get Manafort's debt to Deripaska taken care of ("made whole") by the aluminum tariffs which never made any sense for the U.S. (we import aluminum!) but they were signed off on ("national security!") by Wilbur Ross who we now know stole millions before becoming Secretary of Commerce.
Fear of the mob is the only way these tariffs make any sense. And I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out all the rest of the tariffs were to hide the real reason (Deripaska's profits); and, later, it was something DJT could keep himself busy with without Congress.
Thomas Friedman said years ago in this newspaper that if DJT had taken his inheritance and put it in an Index Fund, he'd be far richer than (he tells us) he is now. And Manafort could have quit at 60 million.
But they just love the conning of people too much.
42
His nature is quite like Trump's obviously. And what's with the complete lack of vetting? Even McCain failed to vet Palin properly and paid the price. My hope is Trump so completely obliterates the GOP that it's forced to reboot as a functional and respectable political party, because they are a hot mess now and we're all suffering the consequences. The GOP has managed to hijack the cultural issues: Flag, patriotism, etc as a front for racism, xenophobia and unbridled crony capitalism. It's just stunning how foolish the Republican voters are. I have zero respect for the judgment of anyone who thought Trump would be a good president.
41
Over $200k a year for Yankee's tix ... well, clearly just the tip of the iceberg with this guy, and yet tells all one needs to know.
Great lede, great article.
Now, only if it were DJT (a Manafort clone, or vice versa) as the 'star' of the article. I'd love to see what happens to his head of ... hair? ... in jail.
7
Much of the money Manafort earned "legally" is just as dirty as the money he embezzled. In 2004, Transparency International compiled a list of ten of the most corrupt politicians of the previous two decades. The TOP FOUR were all Paul Manafort clients:
1) Mohammed Suharto of Indonesia
2) Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines
3) Mobuto Sese Seko of Zaire
4) Sani Abacha of Nigeria
Sources:
http://issuu.com/transparencyinternational/docs/2004_gcr_politicalcorrup... p. 13
https://www.newsweek.com/heres-where-paul-manafort-did-business-corrupt-... https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/01/us/paul-manafort-ukraine-donald-trump...
You write that Manafort wasn't vetted by the Trump campaign. Actually, Trump has been using Manafort (and his partner Roger Stone) as lobbyists since the eighties. I have to suspect that Trump hired Manafort, not in spite of his lack of ethics, but because of it.
43
"I hire only the best people" - Donald J Trump
"I don't want to hire poor people" - Donald J Trump
"Drain the Swamp" - Donald J Trump
"If Crooked Hilary wins, she will spend some much time being investigated..." - Donald J Trump
It should be funny, but it's not.
30
I will always remember Manafort, as campaign chair, searching for words denying financial relationships between Trump and Russian oligarchs...it was so obvious that he was lying. That is the next phase and it will strike at the heart of our democracy.
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/campaign-chair-denies-financial-relationsh...
Watch ~2 min into the video.
16
Pailful Manafort is a victim of his own hubris.Thie “brilliant” Georgetown Law School graduate is essentially out of the international-presidential power game.
Don’t call Roger Stone. He will not return your call!
1
What came thru to me, was the character of fathers of both men Manafort and Trump. Both of them seem to have come from mold of manipulators. Like father like son(s)
15
In today's (Monday's) testimony the $16m loan Manafort conned out of the CEO of a bank by promising him he'd be Secretary of the Army was defaulted on and the bank WROTE OFF a little more than $11m. $11m dollars. The defense had tried to argue that Manafort put up two homes in the NY area as collateral yet the bank never went after those properties to at least recoup some of its losses.
How do you raise your child to always pay his/her bills so that they can establish a "good credit rating" when they apply for a mortgage when this chicanery is taking place? I don't really care that Manafort can't dye his hair anymore or that he has to eat prison food. A paper like the NY Times should avoid publishing articles like this when so many of us are going to suffer as the result of this man and his kleptocracy? We have Flint. The Red Tide that is destroying Florida waters. Puerto Rico. The chipping away of benefits from the ACA. That this man is discomfited doesn't concern this taxpayer in the least.
14
Corruption blossoms where compassion dies.
And yes, I did just paraphrase a comment made by the Reverend in the movie "Footloose".
12
It is paradoxical. Those who supported Hillary Clinton, and were enraged upon learning Trump defeated her with nearly 3-million fewer votes, are now supporting Donald Trump in the only way that really matters. They are forking over their hard-earned, income-taxed dollars to enable Donald to carry out his nefarious plans for America. I can only hope those folks are now experiencing a full measure of shame for their current complicity in the Donald's increasingly aberrant behavior as their president with each weekly paycheck they receive--minus the deduction going to Trump's government.
5
In defense of Paul ... No, there really is not any ...
Let us all hope he cracks and helps to end the current potus' and vpotus' term, quickly.
6
I've sat in the courtroom not far from Manafort, who now lacks all resemblance to the one time dashing, arrogant, man in control, (but broke), portrayed at donald's campaigns. He sits quietly while his expensive lawyers attempt to salvage whatever they can to keep him from prison for the rest of his life.
Justice would be well served if this scene were to be repeated if a trial were to be held for the man Manafort once donated his time to help get elected.
11
Manafort plus an Obama = nada.
Manaforr plus any Trump = Come on in, please. Let's go. Fast.
Problem is with those who let a Manafort sit in the driver's seat.
2
I just held my nose and took a look at the Fox News website. There was not one word about the Manafort trial. I doubt the Trump base even knows Manafort has been indicted.
17
Even if Trump ultimately does not pardon Manafort, he could at least send over his hair stylist to recreate Manafort's impeccably coiffed hair.
4
I lived in Kyiv Ukraine during Manafort's contract to shore up Russian puppet Viktor Yanukovych. Disgraceful!! Yanukovych ordered his secret police to fire on innocent protestors and killed over 100. Yanukovych stole hundreds of millions of tax dollars to support his lavish lifestyle. For this alone, Manafort should be imprisoned for life . . . his support of Yanukovych resulted in the deaths of dozens, bankrupting a country and supporting a Russian puppet. Have to wonder why Trump chose him as his campaign chair.
17
The rise and fall of Manafort? Someday I wish to write a book in Chinese on the rise and fall Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.
5
Growing up with 4 sisters in a rented apartment, both of my parents worked full time (sometimes two jobs) and made little money. The IRS audited them once and apparently they had made a legitimate mistake. They were told they needed to pay the difference and they were fined. Of course they managed to pay it all. To see the amount of corruption that occurs with big dollars and to think that the IRS wastes the taxpayers time and takes money out of the little guys' pockets is so infuriating.
34
Probably the reason Donald Trump refused to release his tax returns is that they would have shown his finances at dangerously low levels; that without a show to flaunt investment in his brand was loosening. As a self-promoter, his run for president was originally about reigniting his brand. Russian money shored him up once but without anything in return it was likely drying up. Perhaps they dangled renewed interest if he were elected having decided to help. Just as Mr. Manafort's financial mismanagement will cost him dearly so eventually will Mr. Trump's. He won't be president forever, even if it's sometimes feels like it. Mr. Mueller and his team have likely lined up future cases. Manafort and Gates are just the tip of the iceberg.
8
This strikes me as compulsive behavior, even if there isn't an official psychological name for it. A luxury goods hoarder of sorts. Completely unable to scale back even a little, he'd rather go into foreclosure than sell one of, I think, 12 homes, relying on ever more flimsy, short lived schemes of bank fraud, ignoring the inevitable. Doesn't sound like normal, adaptive greed.
12
Contrary to suggestions of many posters here, this article does not say that Manafort is criminally guilty. That is left to the jury. Rather, this recounts a myriad of documentary evidence - in other words, "FACTS", known about Manaforts dealings. It is uncontroverted that Manafort himself falsified bank applications and IRS returns. That makes him a cheat. Really a straightforward article if one gets past partisanship.
6
1. Sounds like : Like Father, Like Son. The mayor was a crook and so is his son
2. There is nothing brilliant about a person who decides to cheat and succeeds for a while. By that measure all thugs who are successful to any extent must be deemed brilliant. And then by the same measure all of them are also idiots because they get caught. "Brilliant until a Idiot" does not roll well off the tongue
3. Trump wanted to drain the swamp. So he hired the Swamp ?
4. Like Boss, Like Employee. All these guys sound like a mini version of the big boss, Trump.
5. Our President is Donald Trump - let that sink in. And if that doesn't shame you, nothing else will.
47
After what the Russians did to the Ukrainians in like 1933 when they stole every grain of wheat from them and caused one of the most under mentioned catastrophes in the twentieth century, where some 8 million Ukrainians starved to death, (I think the Ukrainians call it The Holodomor), I’m surprised the Ukrainians haven’t put Manafort’s lights out yet.
14
Rumor has it Manafort will be sharing a cell with Bernie Madoff. That way the fraudsters can co-author an advise book on how to con millions and end up dead broke in federal prison.
15
The picture with this article is haunting. Either Manafort has been crying or he is possessed
7
Per NYTimes: "Mr. Manafort built his political consultancy into a power center in Reagan-era Washington, where the name of Black, Manafort and Stone became synonymous with string-pulling, insider access and electoral success."
I have just one question to the Times of which I am a loyal reader. Did the Times at any time cover, or rather uncover, the tales of such lobbying firms?
6
Outrageously unfair coverage of a man on trial. The authors have clearly not interviewed Manafort and could have at least awaited a jury verdict before weighing in on his alleged "greed, deception and ego." A very cheap shot, one unworthy of The Paper of Record.
4
It is fair game to recite evidence, mostly documents, in a court of law. Perhaps you think it ok to cheat the IRS by falsifying tax returns? Or cheating banks by falsifying assets? These are FACTS. The documents speak for themselves and an interview would mean nothing.
16
@Mary Reinholz Manafort's lifestyle has been open for years-he Twitters! Books and numerous articles have been written about him and his escapades in Europe and the US. Many people follow the 'exploits' of these notorious men.
Unfair? This is not confidential information. There is no point in having such conspicuous affluence if no one notices!
9
@Mary Reinholz Hear hear!
2
This is an outrageous article. It does not read even like a "News Analysis" piece, much less a news piece. Mr. Manafort has not been convicted of any crime. He's entitled to a vigorous defense. Perhaps he's guilty; perhaps he's innocent. I do not know, and you do not either.
But I do know that it's outrageous to call "whole trajectory of Mr. Manafort’s life" --- a father, a husband, a friend, a business pioneer, "a tale of greed, deception and ego" based on alleged tax evasion over a period of 4 years, before he joined the Trump campaign.
Writing that the President of the United States is a "notorious skinflint" is invective unworthy of the New York Times --- were all the editors asleep?
Unfortunately your readers are so gullible they fall for the implicit subtext in this defamatory piece that President Trump must also be like Mr. Manafort in other ways since they live in the same building, have a taste for expensive clothing, and . . . he must be a criminal as well. That is absurd, and while you might claim that your journalists wrote no such thing, you only need look at the preposterous comments to see that their message came through loud and clear.
6
I guess you didn't read the earlier articles about Trump being very cheap with his own money. Why do you think he used his foundation and others' contributions to it to pay for personal items? Didn't you read the sad article about the small piano vendor in Atlantic City who furnished Trump casinos with pianos but when it was time for Trump to pay, he/his company told the vendor to 'sue him". He claimed all pianos furnished were "faulty" even though they were checked out. Many other stories over the years of contractors not being paid but told to "sue" to get their fair contract price for goods and services furnished. What a low life!
18
@Samuel
Are you in the “Lock Her Up” camp by any chance? People are quick to judge Hillary and throw her in jail even after extensive investigation. In the case of Paul Manafort, the jury is still out, but there is abundant evidence of his greed and deceit.
2
@samuel, this newspaper has reported on million of things including critical portrayal of individuals, whether or not the subject of legal proceedings, and they get it mostly right, meaning the stories stand the test of time. This is their assessment of Manafort. The evidence in the trial is uncontested. If you can read email by yourself, you don't need to believe any of the witnesses. The NYT won't have to backtrack on this, whether or not the jury convicts. Juries are not infallible. You should try to make up your own mind, sometime.
2
So how does he pay for his expensive legal team?
10
Trump says he hires the best people. Yet he doesn’t vet applicants.
10
I am amazed that Manafort has lived long enough to stand trial. In addition to the $10MM dollar loan from Deripaska that he didn't repay, he also mismanaged $400MM that Deripaska gave him to secure an aluminum smelter deal that never came to pass. I didn't think you could obscond with that much money from a Russian oligarch connected to Putin and not get a Novichuk cocktail.
15
In your zeal to attack Trump, you forget, like so many today, that one is innocent until proven guilty. The tax case seems better than the bank fraud charge. Try not to gloat yet
1
Like seeks like.
Birds of a feather...
manafort and trump
And 42% of polling respondents approve. I wonder how many of that 42% would go in to business with Agent Orange?
7
'Like everyone else on Trump's campaign, Manafort was not vetted'. Is that an excuse or justification for Manafort becoming the the Chief of Trump's campaign? No matter! The buck stops here - with Trump!
4
I wonder if he ever “assisted “ anyone that needed help?
3
Manafort is a man who found that he could do as he liked so long as he was accepted by people in power and he had no personal moral principles to constrain himself from taking advantage. He began living this way three decades ago and it became normal to him to conduct himself as if he need not worry about the consequences, all the consequences would be favorable, he expected. He even forgot that aside from his personal services to rich and corrupt people, his sources of wealth were too limited for him to have very much income. Had he been rational, he’d have lived much more modestly, and secured the wealth he’d accumulated to last out his life.
He’s going to be convicted of crimes that are very serious. They could result in a life incarcerated. He deserves to be punished. He knew that he was committing crimes. But somehow he was also crazy. It’s like his rational mind was sane but his soul is totally insane.
Manafort is the worst of Trump’s colleagues and Trump will let him live with his crimes, I suspect, but I suspect that Trump saw how depraved was the man and saw no problem with it as long as it did not manifest itself as it did. If so, then Trump is also a person with an ailing soul.
5
@Casual Observer
"He’s going to be convicted of crimes that are very serious." We can only hope this comes to pass. But, I've read that Judge Ellis has been very tough on the prosecution team. Let's not celebrate until the verdict is actually in, as we seem to be living in an alternate universe where things we previously thought impossible happen right and left.
5
@Casual Observer Nice of you to convict him before the jury gets the case. However, he spent his money, it is no business of yours, a concept liberals have a hard time accepting. Live your own life and don't tell people how to live theirs.
@Hattie Ogden This is a jury trial.
Regarding Manafort’s supposed stain, can you stain something that’s already stained? I don’t think you can do so meaningfully.
6
Yes you can! It's labeled: RESTAINING! As in: "Let's get a Restaining order ... ".
7
Thank you for my biggest laugh of the day. A good one.
2
Birds of a feather.............I hope they all end up in orange jump suits, starting with the Stable Genius.
14
Someone should really write a sequel to Orwell 1984, just for updating in the real time.
The Hypocrite -in- Chief was just speaking in front of our military re: signing defense spending bill, the bill named in honor of John Mccain who he publicly tried to insult. The shameless, little creature using the military in attempt to con american public even more, also making sure that blunt hypocrisy moves the gold post so far that no one would even care next time.
That's how dystopia works in real time.
11
"The formidable parade ... of exhibits has further eroded the notion, advanced by President Trump, that the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, Robert S. Mueller III, is on a “witch hunt.”"
Um, no. The reverse is true. Not a thing they have on Manafort has a thing to do with Russia collusion, which is supposed to be what Mueller's looking for evidence of. Even if he finds such evidence, everybody and his uncle knows that collusion isn't even a crime.
Yeah, it's a witch hunt, alright, and your saying it isn't doesn't make it any less so.
1
Tune into reality, Sonny. Mueller was granted authority to look into any and all crimes connected or even stumbled upon in his Russia investigation. Manafort is being tried for money laundering and tax evasion. Collusion is another word for conspiracy, buddy. Conspiracy to defraud the United States. That, is the underlying crime. The guy without a penny to his name, in deep debt to oligarchs and connections galore decides to volunteer for Trump. Out of his own dedication to the party? I think not. Why, coincidentally, did the Republican platform change on the night the RNC voted on the platform to a more favorable treatment of Russia? Well, Manafort was there, working the deal. Coincidence? I think not.
7
Manafort was paid by Russia (through Ukraine) to prop up a pro-Russia tyrant/oligarch, then worked for Trump’s election campaign, also supported by Russia. How is that unrelated to the Mueller investigation? Just wait...it’s coming.
5
This is only Manforts first trial, which deals with crimes predominantly past. The next trial starts in the fall - that is the one which deals with the campaign and conspiracy to defraud the US. Of course, then NY gets to try him for crimes committed in their jurisdiction.
I find it fascinating (and incredibly depressing) that in Jan 2017 some 67% said that if "Trump or his campaign" colluded with Russia hat Trump must resign", now after 18 months of his presidency, Trumps followers not only say it was not Trmp that did anything wrong just his campaign staff, they also use this nonsense that "colluding is not a crime", when no-one ever suggested it was, the crimes have always been conspiracy to defraud the US.
Trumps followers are going further down his rabbit hole. I suggest you all write down what would actually be too far. Are we actually at the point of Trump being able to shoot someone on 5th avenue yet? Because if you continue to move the goalposts on what you are willing to accept from this man, you can believe Trump will take you much further than you imagine. How do you not see how dangerous Trump is? Worse, how dangerous you're continual excusing such a dangerous man is?
3
The idea that Trump hired Manafort out of the blue seems like magical thinking.
A more likely scenario is that he was placed there through forces we've yet to learn but which Bob Mueller will hopefully reveal.
8
Indeed Manafort was reported to have said to an associate of Trump that he "Needed to get to Trump" one week before presenting himself as willing and able to the candidate. I always found the phrasing suspect.
It’s so surprising that Mr. Trump, who boasts about his superior intelligence, couldn't see through the game Mr. Manafort was playing when he offered to work free for his campaign. Manafort knew that by selling his place in, or access to, a future Trump administration, he would be making much more than what he would even as a top official on the campaign. See the way he “dangled a possible cabinet secretary post in front of Stephen Calk, chairman of Federal Savings Bank in Chicago…" who approved two loans to him, totaling $16 million.
I can think of only one why Trump bit Manafort's bait. He knew full well that the fame that came with the most powerful position in the world, if he won it (he did not expect to win it until the votes were counted), wouldn't be there forever. What he enjoyed immensely, and was keen on preserving, was the fame and success that came to him as a real estate tycoon.
He had already started expanding his business into former Soviet-satellite nations and Russia. Manafort's influence among Pro-Russian oligarchs in Ukraine, and their links to Russian oligarchs who are close Putin, have been well-known by then. That influence could come in handy in the planned expansion of business into that part of the world, Trump might have thought.
But for the Mueller investigation, he wouldn't have learned what a shady character his one-time campaign chief was. Will he at least stop ridiculing the investigation as a "witch hunt"?
He owes it to himself.
2
Paul Manafort's actions could be incorporated in the Anti Money Laundering (AML) training that every broker and securities dealer has to take every few years. About everything that you learn in the course is a violation - he has done.
4
Experts have said that the defense will not call witnesses. Sp the prosecution and defense will undertake their closing arguments tomorrow and we can expect a decision by Friday.
2
@Diogenes -- gonna be interesting. They will file the usual motions to dismiss ... that's happening now that the prosecution has rested.
If they don't succeed at that (and I sure doubt they can) ... then I think it's time for them to take a third option you don't mention ... take whatever plea bargain Mueller will now offer.
Because otherwise the deal will just be a lot worse after a conviction.
“Vetting” often means that no one is allowed into the charmed circle of the elite who wasn’t born and groomed into it.
1
I am quite sure that there are thousands of other wealthy people like Mr Manafort out there who think of nothing but themselves. Our president is an example of an ego driven self-absorbed person of this ilk. And I don’t believe that Manafort will be safe in prison either.
I wonder if he ever made any donations to charity.
16
Mr. Manafort embodies an extreme version of the impetus that drives the growing wealth inequity in our society. "Which path will earn bring the greater financial return?" is the decision at each juncture. And this, not by people who hope merely to pay rent AND buy gas and food, but by people who don't have to know how to shop for groceries economically.
3
Does anyone else wonder if Manafort believes he a safer in jail. Doesn't he owe that Russian oligarch millions of dollars? I can't believe he feels safe on the street. Lay down with dogs, wake up with flees-or broken knees.
9
So, who is paying the lawyers if Manafort is broke?
19
This isn't just Manafort's trial, it's America's. If he goes down, millions of voters will insist that it's all a plot to taint Donald Trump; that it doesn't matter if it's true in the first place; that it's false "fake news" on its face; and that Manafort should be pardoned as a victim of the general witch hunt.
This is the GOP laid out on lab slides. It should be quarantined, and the body politic disinfected of it. They won't do any of that. America will need to do it for them.
14
“Manafort thought that if something was expensive, it meant it was good.”
This statement probably explains his "taste" in suits, which are for the most part atrocious. A recent Fashion critic said Manafort should go to jail just based on his taste in clothes.
9
If people can't be bother by this cesspool in DC that's been going on for many decades, we're the ones to be blame.
Don't expect this Banana Republic will ever correct itself, it's our responsibility to pressure this government to enact a complete legislative overhaul...how is it even legal that member of congress seating on a Commerce Committee (Collins) could be on the board and the largest shareholder in private company.
The system we have is enabling people to commit all kind of fraudulent activity...it just too easy due to minimum oversight.
Serious adjustments and reforms are long overdue.
According to everything I read pertaining to Manafort's financial criminal activity and his being for decades under the FBI surveillance it's really disturbing how long it took to indict him.
Basically, we can assume if he would never become trump's campaign chairman he would still be freelancing in his dirty dealings with all the world dictators around the globe.
Are the laws in this country so loose that it's just bagging for sleazy political operators populating DC to abuse and completely disregard everything.
Please don't vote for people without any semblance of integrity!
The system is so broken, it's beyond repair.
GREED and CORRUPTION reigns supreme.
9
Manafort is caught in the ever expanding web of Russiangate. This trial is only the slightest opening to a major can of worms for the GOP. They need to explain why 6 GOP Senators visited Moscow this year on the 4th of July. Why did the Russians filter monies through the NRA to support GOP candidates. Why has trump been so adamant that Russia did not tamper in our elections. Why did Paul Ryan instruct a group of major GOP leaders in 2016 to keep quiet about an assertion by one of their own that GOP Rep Rohrabacher and Trump were on Putin's payroll. Why did Senator Rand Paul visit Russia recently. Why was trump so subservient to Putin in Helsinki. Barking 'no collusion' and 'witch hunt' is really getting silly at this point.
17
Title should be "The trials and tribulations of Manafort". Manafort will beat both cases.
2
I would like to know the rationale for writing off $45,000 worth of cosmetic dentistry as a "business expense."
10
The article reports the rise and fall of one man, whose life is portrayed as pursuing luxury and power. What saddens me is; in the earthly world, for many, the taste for luxurious lives as a proof of success, is sweeter than honey. In the similar term, greediness can be anyone’s norm. Simply, the power may be defined differently in other cases. *** In certain occupations, the liars should be deprived of the professional privileges immediately. This is my opinion. For example, when priests lie and fabricate confessions, there exist, in my view, no justifiable utilitarianism such that the lies help these and those people at the expense of (whomever). The same is true for medical professionals, according to me. In such cases, trust and respect in a community are reversed in a way that a plausible decency in the idea that the respectful (= whatever respectful professionals or priests) has to be protected from criminal charges has no solid base, but the idea stands only on a willingness to sustain particular respects for the particulars, as communal preferences. *** I don’t know how the case in the article will go on and what will be brought more. But, I hope that large scale investigations of the national level such as this, can raise the moral sense of various communities as well.
2
“'Manafort thought that if something was expensive, it meant it was good.'”
If this does not sum up Trump's appeal to the millions of marks and suckers who voted for him, I do not know what does.
18
For Republicans, selling out your country can be very lucrative but it's safer to do it from a gerrymandered seat in The House.
10
The most disheartening truth about this story, as with so many stories related to Donald Trump, is that we all know the difference between right and wrong, and he and his insiders ignore it. They aren't like Jean Valjean stealing a loaf of bread to feed his family. They're rich guys lying and stealing to stuff their already bulging pockets, with not even the nod as to whether what they are doing is right or wrong.
They go to sleep smiling about their success at trickery, without the slightest care about the harm they are doing, whether it's lobbying for big pharma, or big oil, or big banks, or phony schools, or gutting the EPA, or filling cages with children. They're full of bluster and self-congratulation unless they get caught or fall out of favor.
Where does he find these evil people and why are so many of them still in positions of power?
29
Where is the Republican Benghazi outrage? Where is Trey Gowdy's outrage over Trump and his crony Paul Manafort? Gowdy wasted time and government money hounding Hillary Clinton. Paul Manafort is a man who went through 60 million dollars and went looking for more. Paul Manafort who worked with Russia-aligned oligarchs and then was campaign chairman for Trump. No vetting. Something really smells like incompetence on Trumps's part. Taxes are for the little people and that's why Republicans are always pushing for tax cuts. Manafort made his own tax cut, by not paying them. Its interesting that Manafort with all his money seems to have never setup any foundations or charities to help anyone. Just like his bud the President. One conman to another.
13
Knowing that pride goes before a fall was known to the ancient Greeks and, no doubt, their forebears. Good luck to Mueller. Manafort is just a small, but very greasy, fish.
6
This is a very thorough and informative article on Paul Manafort regarding the tangled tale of his income and employment by Donald Trump. If ever two people deserved each other, it’s these two. The ostentatious spendthrift and the incompetent skinflint are a match made in heaven. Manafort’s mind boggling consumption and Trump’s incompetence in vetting and pretty much everything else is a substantial threat to the Trump presidency.
Rick Gates’s continued employment after Manfort left promises to further cause heartburn in the White House as well due to his cooperation with the Special Counsel. Isn’t that a darn shame!
3
The best and safest place for Paul Manafort is a maximum security American federal prison. Those who cross and steal from Vladimir Putin and his oligarch friends tend to end up in hospitals, mental institutions, prisons, urns and coffins. While none of Trump's enemies has ever suffered a fate akin to these from a Trump tweet and speech.
6
Would guess that a significant number of Trump's loyal base would consider P. J. Manafort a successful man. And that he's being persecuted because he's a Republican.
6
If he was caught for the crimes in another country, he would be pretty much in a prison labor camp.
6
@Kuroi Kiri But Manafort did not commit crimes in another country. His crimes consisted of efforts to ingratiate himself into the 'mafiosa' of the foreign countries. He is part of the 'other countries' systems. Those foreign systems interfered in our election and helped put Trump (and Manafort, Gates, Miller, et al) in power in the United States government.
2
To paraphrase Nobel-prize winning economist Amartya Sen, it is not so important that there are fruits of economic prosperity, but rather what those fruits are spent on. We live in a society where four season baseball tickets cost $210,600, and people actually buy them. The chasm between the haves and the have nots just keeps growing. Full disclosure--I would be shamed to be seen on tv behind the batter given that people would know how much that seat cost.
13
I would like to be confident about the prosecution of Manafort.
But It's hard to be confident based on the insider treatment he has enjoyed for decades, where investigators "overlooked" obvious tax and money laundering crimes.
Is jury tampering or some other nefarious end out of the question when you see decades of crimes mysteriously go on without prosecution?
7
While Manfort and Gates are charged with tax evasion related to their earnings in Ukraine, and while their role in assisting Yanukovych with sacking the Ukraine treasury is well known, not enough attention has been paid to their role in getting Yanukovych elected in the first place: Russian money, a Russian operative, Konstantin Kilimnik as an aide or associate--or paymaster?
2
I simply don’t understand how certain people are able to get away with things like this for so long. When my husband and I, who both have impeccable credit, applied for a small home mortgage loan a few years ago, the lender practically wanted our first born. We had to account for every single penny of income for two years. It’s jaw dropping that he was able to scam the system for so long.
15
"A notice on the website for his legal defense fund read: 'Paul and his family are reaching out to anyone who can assist him at this time.'” I would like to assist with some advice: Cooperate with Mr. Mueller and negotiate a plea bargain.
16
The families of children killed by gun violence get "our prayers are with you" from the Republicans.
I cannot imagine why Paul Manafort deserves any more than that, and for my part ... I give him far, far less.
Mr. Manafort will be facing a very simple question soon: does he have anything to offer Mr. Mueller's investigation sufficient so that he won't spend the rest of his life in jail?
Let's be clear here: that means something that gets Trump impeached and/or puts somebody big in jail.
I don't know the answer to that question, but I suspect Mr. Mueller does.
Will Mr. Manfort squeal? And what about?
8
It's not the fall, but the rise of Paul Manafort that causes indigestion.
We just had a mortgage crisis that was in part owing to liberal credit and excessive debt. Millions of people lost a lot of money and it nearly tanked the global economy.
But this guy was able to borrow millions of dollars by parlaying his connections to crooked politicians.
The story of the Trump Administration is not what was illegal, but what was lawful and common among his close associates. The corruption is radical.
8
The sad untold part of this story is that there are so many other Paul Manaforts in America. Their lies and frauds go unprosecuted because regular investigators lack the special counsel's resources to unravel the financial webs their advisers spin. Many spend millions in legal and adviser fees to avoid penalties in the thousands simply because they are obsessed with winning every time, at any cost.
14
Nicely written story, thanks. It would be interesting to know who's contributing to his "legal defense fund".
This story is stunning. I'm heartened by the fact that Trump hires only the "best" people.......... The "best" at greed, lying, deception, and fraud.
8
The connection between Manafort and Tom Barrack, who brought Manafort into Trump’s campaign has never been adequately explored. Barrack’s recommendation came with the knowledge of Manafort’s past dealings, and should have been suspect. The money that Barrack raised for the inauguration has never been adequately explained as to the distribution of funds. This smells bad.
20
I am re-reading Thoreau's WALDEN. Wonder what he and his contemporaries would make of all this!
6
I have always thought that the most common way rich people get rich is not because they're smart, it's because they are crooked. They do not create wealth. They just take money out of one persons pocket, ultimately the working folks, and put it in theirs. Truth
9
It is all fairly simple. Manafort was in debt to Russians. Trump may be in debt to Russians. Manafort and the Russians were working to elect Trump. It is just a matter of connecting the dots in a court room.
But take your time Mr. Mueller, we need you to get this right.
6
I still would like to see the donald's tax returns.
10
This guy represents just half of our 1% organized crime criminals. Now what the NY Times needs to do is to investigate and ruin the reputations of the 50% of the 1% who are alleged "liberals" that pump billions into the democratic party and to insure that Hillary's "open borders" rigged against the 99% status quo continues. Remember that Obama filled his administration with the same corporate thieves and the bribed and cowardly government officials that caused the 2008 economic crash in the first place?
1
I don't know about the rise, I just about heard of him. From Hartford area a lobbyist. I know when trump named him something all the cable heads said "He was the adult in the room" and "added gravitas". I have certainly heard about the fall, a bunch of stuff with money that happened a long time ago and some pal of his "Gates" had some affairs I guess. A made up story and again not a lie but "fake news" that all the cable and news have to overplay
Y'all make 'son of the Mayor' sound like a coal-miner's son! I don't care if it's 'small town' or big city, son of the mayor is a privileged background! Of course, if those doing the reporting are entitled and privileged, they can't be expectected to 'recognize'.
5
This trial raises many questions:
How many more Manaforts are out there?
How much did the Trumps (including Jared and Don Jr.) know about Manafort when they brought him into the Trump campaign?
The NY tabloids assert that Manafort and Don Jr. were in real-estate deals together. True? What were these? Were they legal? (the tabloids say they were money-laundering ... implicating Little Donnie in Manafort's crimes.)
Manafort looks like a guy who would sell his mother down the river, and an increasingly desperate one while working for Trump. Being 10 M$ in debt to a Russian oligarch ... what WOULDN'T Manafort do for the Russians?
Anybody looking at his situation and position with Trump must wonder what else he did for those on the other end of his leash.
6
"The Rise and Fall of Paul Manafort: Greed, Deception and Ego"
Please do save this headline in the very likely event it will be needed for "Donald J. Trump".
One can only hope that Manafort is convicted on all counts in this trial and his next, and his "fall" is just the beginning of rooting out this type of insidious corruption: lobbyists, law firms, elected officials. Long past time the world wide web of the lives of the rich and rotten were exposed for what they are.
4
I wonder if he had not worked for Trump would he have been caught?
2
What a great movie this would make!
1
How many DC lobbyists refuse to serve “brutal dictators or corrupt industrialists”? Not many I would guess.
3
Manafort is also a victim of the US stages coup in Ukraine . Manafort was working for the legally elected President of Ukraine, Yanukovich.
The US payed $5 billion for stage the coup. What they didn't count on was the opposition to the coup which resulted as do so many US operations, in a civil war.
And since Ukraine is the most corrupt government in Europe you cannot trust any documents they produced as they are most like phonies created by Interior Minister, Arsen Avakov.
All documents provided by Ukraine should be thrown out at the trial since their authenticity is under questions.
@ judyweller --
No Ukranian documents have been produced for Manafort's trial, so far as I know.
If you read the account of the trial "• An FBI accountant testified that $60 million flowed through Manafort’s accounts from 2010 to 2014."
This means money Manafort got, did not pay taxes on, and money-laundered back into the USA through a variety of means.
It doesn't really matter (as far as his charged crimes go) where he got it.
3
How is Mr. Manafort any different than the entire GOP politicians and approtives for the the past half a century? Didn't we go through this more than a decade ago with Tom Delay, GOP's majority whip? Manafort, Trump and like minded others are the symptoms of the political cancer brought to this nation by the GOP.
The obvious corruption, collusion, conspiracy,fraud, cronyism, fascism, nepotism, etc. displayed by Trump and minions should be a warning sign to America that the party of the plutocrats, the GOP is a cancer that could destroy our democracy. The plutocratic GOP puppet masters could care less about the corruptions of their concubines, their politicians as long as we continue their policies of trickle-down economics, with this in mind, Trump and his GOP enablers already accomplished their goals.
9
Follow the money.
3
Greed, Deception and Ego -- the words The New York Times uses to characterize Manafort -- also perfectly characterize Trumpty Dumpty and his Republican stuck-ups in the House and Senate.
12
Paul Manafort's next address should be The Big House, preferably one that does not cater to white collar criminals. Not exactly the White House, but it will have to do if he's pinched by this jury.
4
Greed, Deception and Ego....
Sounds like that should be GOP tagline now that they've abandoned the subterfuge of using dog whistles.
6
"Greed, Deception and Ego" - emblematic of this entire administration, though some members, though equally venal, are actually quite stupid.
2
If Trump was not part of Manafort's deal with the Russians why did he keep Rick Gates around when he found out about their firms debt to the Russians?
3
Bye bye PM. Keep a bunk warm for Donny.
8
Age old Triumvirate of faults- "Ego, Greed, Deception"
Could have been the epithet on Bernie Madoff's fall. Michael Milken. Anybody throughout history.
8
Let's hope that Manafort, a nouveau riche sociopath, is sent to jail with a long sentence! How do we explain the stench and corruption in today's Washington to our children? There is no one in Trump's administrtion who is honorable, and working hard for the American people.
4
"Mr. Manafort demanded in an email. “How could I be blindsided like this.”
Because in intelligence circles (Russian, U.S., China whomever) Manafort is a "mouse." Or rather, he's a near-prefect fit for MICE – someone who is easily recruited (or avoided) by foreign governments by nature of their vulnerabilities. M = Money. I = Ideology. C = Collusion/Conspiracy. E = Ego / Extortion.
Manafort's desire for money, combined with his ego makes him highly susceptible to extortion and collusion. If Manafort has to ask "How could I be blindsided..." then he clearly doesn't understand his own inherent weakness.
3
Trump is lucky Manafort is going down first because when the heat gets too hot for him all Rudy & Donald will have to do is concoct a sequence of events where they can blame everything on Manafort. And they will get away with it. Because Congressional republicans will allow it.
8
For Gates to have "embezzelled" funds from Manafort is nothing Manafort didn't know.
Guys like Manafort know they are being robbed by underlings-
they just want to have it over them later, and expect a certain return of loyalty for the favor. Gates "admitting" to the special prosecutor that he "stole" from Manafort is his way of making it sound like "well he was doing the really big stuff, and I took a little of that, but he is the bad guy".
It worked quite well for him. Embezzled simply meant "took his share". He has a face that will buy a jury, you have to admit.
This is a very good piece, as far as it goes. But for a superb and even more in-depth article on Manafort, including his time in an Arizona clinic for suicidal thoughts and more information on his sordid career, check out this Atlantic article by Franklin Foer: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/03/paul-manafort-ameri...
I came away from that article even more outraged by his career and his position in the Trump campaign, while nevertheless hoping he is on suicide watch where he currently is jailed.
3
Ego, Greed and Deception, are we talking about trump here? Manafort is just one representative of the corrupt mob trump is the godfather for.
9
When the time comes, you can just insert a new name: “The Rise and fall of Donald Trump: Greed, Deception and Ego”
3
This article has some fascinating details about Manafort's life, but the authors have clearly not interviewed him so quite a bit of it (including the headline) reads like character assassination. I don't understand why The Paper of Record would permit such outrageous speculation about Manafort's motives for amassing great wealth while serving as a political consultant for foreign autocrats and for concealing the loss of his fortune by working on The Trump campaign for free. It's all hearsay and very thin stuff. The man is still on trial so this story is manifestly unfair.It will be interesting if a jury acquits Manafort.
2
@Mary Reinholz Mary, Mary, did he not hide this mass fortune from the IRS??? That alone should get him a nice stripped suit (sans ostrich feathers). The average Joe gets hammered by the IRS, local real estate taxes,etc. and this guy gets to skate? As the trumpster would say " That's not fair." And it ain't.
12
Sorry, but this is a "character" that just about assassinates itself.
The Manafort/Cohen nexus reveals so much about Trump-Russia for Mueller as I note in my piece here, and the media has still failed to explore this theme https://hillreporter.com/how-cohens-and-manaforts-ukraine-ties-tell-the-...
Every top story, especially this one, is a reminder of this new era of U.S. instability and corruption.
With all this sad news, I hope the NYT does not intend to run for any "Happy news" awards any time soon. LOL...
*Sigh* These are unimaginably horrible times for our republic, and the world.
4
"Only the finest people...." Trump promised us. "Extreme vetting..." Trump promised us. At first, it made sense that those two promises would meld perfectly when it came to the staffing of his own White House. And then the collapsing of the dominoes began. It likely started with Lewandowski before Trump was even elected and has never stopped. As recently as this morning, a former high-salaried staffer, Omarosa, was characterized as "wacky." Yesterday's label was "lowlife."
One is left to wonder how on Earth a man with such a horrible hiring record ever made his supposed billions in the business world. And then we remember the multiple bankruptcies, thousands of lawsuits, stiffed small businesses and hush money payments to the women on the side. Then, the answer becomes very clear.
To use an old metaphor..."all the chickens are finally coming home to roost."
293
@Tom Q
Recall that Mr. Trump's fame rests on the phrase, "You're Fired!" He never said he was good at hiring. If you know many entrepreneurs (both successful and not) you know that they believe absolutely in their own prowess to both hire and fire people. They see hiring as a low risk proposition due to their (overly high, in most cases) assessment of their own ablitlites. I don't care if someone does this in the private sector. It's alarming to see in someone who is President of the US do this. And continue to do it badly.
7
@Tom Q I seem to remember an old "saw" which says con-men are easier to con than most people. Guess when someone is rotten to the core, he can no longer see where he stands.
7
@Tom Q Sloppy business people know how to be crooked and get away with it. Trump will ultimately crumble in humiliation, and likely his supposed "$10 billion" empire.
5
Unmentioned in the article is that the totally dis-loyal Trump had his campaign SAVED by Manafort, who successfully navigated the path to the nomination when Trump was floundering and vulnerable.
Putting together delegates to be nominated is an art and a science.
In the GOP there is none better than Manafort
Since WWII there have been 3 seminal GOP nomination contests to decide the future of the GOP and the country.
64 and Goldwater don't count because he was going to be nominated anyway.
52 - Eisenhower and establishment against Taft
76 - Ford and Establishment against Reagan
16 - The whole Establishment against Trump
Manafort played key roles in 76 to get the nomination for Ford and in 16 to get the nomination for Trump.
Whatever else may befall him, his genius should be recognized.
2
What I can't get over is the stupidity. Nobody reality based person making millions of dollars in their early 60's thinks this will go on forever and spends money in such a manic way on the premise the millions will keep rolling in. His whole business and financial approach is unbalanced and it's pretty clear to me he was unhinged. The perfect compatriot for The Donald.
9
once the money stops rolling in they HAVE to keep people thinking they are impressively weathly to move on to new deals for themselves. Foreign oligarchs have no interest in dealing with bankrupt fools. Trump, too, kept up the visual of the successful rich guy. Its all an illusion-painful as that is.
3
Manafort is just the first US person that Robert Muller is indicting. I can’t think of any president who would say they barely knew their allegedly corrupt campaign chairman.
Apparently anything goes in the Trump presidency. From Rudy’s contradictory gibberish to Michael Cohen’s threats. Maybe Jared get’s “Heck of a job Kushy” congratulations from his father in law for using his position to enrich himself.
3
Well rich white people who are in the Trump inner circle can get away with everything. There are no poor white people in America, they can all get a sweetheart deal from the banks and corporations. They all know someone who will give them a handshake a wink and life goes on for them.This case is beyond disgusting and shows how deep financial corruption is in America.
Omarosa the latest person escorted out of the White House by John Kelly had a security clearance and Jared lied on his forms, so who is the security issue, not Omarosa but Jared who is a family member.
So this is a very sad day in America and as Mueller keeps pulling back the onion skin we will see how deeply fooled the American people have been.
5
Sure looks like Manafort is going the distance, eh? Who does he think is going to pardon him? Oh, wait for it, number 45 or oh, maybe that paragon of phony virtue who will issue 45's get out of jail free card, Pence, the prince in waiting, after he pardons the Trumpster. What a bunch of grifters. America has taken a hit. Let's hope this too shall pass.
8
I look forward to a similar headline:
"The Rise and Fall of Donald Trump: Greed, Deception and Ego"
Birds of a feather flock together, and they don't come more mendacious, greedy or self-centered than Manafort and Trump. They deserve everything coming their way.
16
People are judged by the company they keep. Manafort is a greedy dishonest swindler who made a fortune promoting the interests of foreign "strongmen," murderous and thuggish dictators. All so he could wear a jacket made of ostrich skin. And this is the guy Trump chose for his campaign chair.
8
What I would like to know is who promoted the pro-Russia planks in the Republican's convention platform? Was this Manifort? Was he paid to promote them? And if not Manifort, then who?
13
A junior level HR flunky would have done a basic background check for an entry level hire. One would think that the self-proclaimed Stable Genius would have done a cursory check, especially with the giant red flag of Manafort offering to work for free.
But when has Trump ever looked a gift horse in the mouth?
9
@Billseng
Trump accepted his longtime friend Tom Barrack’s recommendation to hire Manafort. Tom Barrack had a history of working deals with dictators going way back. This terrible trio, plus Gates, were no strangers to working the systems wherever they went.
I am amazed that Americans seem to think Trump, Kushner, Manafort and the list goes on and on and on, all of whom are conniving, dishonest, and degenerate, are acceptable in their society because they are "successful" or "enterprising". But then America is the place where Al Capone remains a hero, rather than a vilified national disgrace. In other nations, those who are consumed by greed and despise the law and morality are rightly regarded as villains & outcasts, not clever operators. Achieving wealth or power through immorality and viciousness is hardly laudable, indeed isn't even difficult nor requires intelligence; it only requires a willingness to harm others pursing your own interest.
14
Manafort and Trump. Two men with low feelings of self-worth using money and material possessions to compensate. Trump's low self-esteem comes from his abusive father. Not sure where Manafort's problems originated.
2
Please to see the truth being revealed on this huckster sociopath. Now how about delving into the vast network of revolving doors doing the same thing.
1
@NY Times - thanks for posting. Apologies for typos. Belted it out in traffic.
@Patrick Lovell
We need to look into every republican since Nixon who got this ball of corruption started and reagan who made it the official and "legal"standard of doing business in DC
1
One can only hope that soon a headline in the NYT and other "enemies of the people" - , will read:
"The Rise and Fall of Donald Trump, Greed, Deception and Ego"
21
I am no fan of Manafort or his patron Trump.However I question the fairness of the NYT in publishing such a negative story about Manafort while he is the middle of trial before a jury. It is likely that some members of the jury will hear about this story and be influenced by it. Not fair.
I think it's fair to assume that members of the jury are adults who can follow instructions to avoid media coverage about the proceedings in which they play a key role. Why would you assume that they won't serve their duty with integrity?
8
seriously? if anything in this article comes as a surprise to a juror on the panel (who aren't supposed to be exposed to media, but I don't think they are sequestered) then the justice system has truly found its very first unbiased jury for a publicly covered trial.
hes getting his justice while being behind bars white collar style, as it does sound like he didn't have to cents to rub together for bail, and was accused by Mueller of witness tampering.
1
For a moment I thought the Times was describing Mr. Trump, the real kingpin of sleaze and corruption. Can't wait for the day that he can't color his hair and his face and his family loses all the fake caps on their teeth and Ivanka's starts talking the like the Queens girl she post elocution lessons that make her (and I didn't thing it was possible) more of a phony than she is.
5
The Manafort saga reveals an industry that exists to avoid paying taxes. The Manaforts, Trumps, Kushners of this world make their way by gaming the system. They skirt our tax laws yet have no qualms with considering themselves great patriotic public servants. They are really the reverse of JFK's famous "ask not" admonishment.
The hysterical aspect of this is watching Fox News trying to whitewash these felonies into the all encompassing hunt for witches.
13
Morale to this story: [aka word up to DJT] - There is no free lunch among the wealthy and there wannabes wealthier hanger ons. Lock them all up and throw away the key. No deals for these thieves and liars.
3
The chart leaves out the June Trump tower meeting.
5
The Manafort trial offers us the view into the sordid and repugnant swamp into which the American Republic has been sinking and continues to sink even faster with each passing day. The fish stinks from the head down. Or, to paraphrase The Fool in Shakespeare's "King Lear": "The truth is beaten like a dog, whilst the lapdog sits at the fireplace and is allowed to stink." What is needed is not only the continuation and conclusion of this trial (which will end with Manafort's conviction), but a radically profound cultural shift on how politics and economy is done in the US - I do not exclude the need for a Constitutional Convention. The Trump presidency, as the Manafort trial, is the outward symptom of a rot so deeply permeating and vicious that no amount of "fix" can save the current situation.
4
The most striking thing is that Manafort is typical for Trump’s crowd. Trump has surrounded himself with people like Manafort - dozens of amoral grifters, charlatans and posers. I challenge you to name an honest, upright Trump associate. Go ahead, I’ll give you a minute.
Here’s another challenge - name one “Manafort” in Obama’s administration. You can’t, there weren’t any. Sigh...
19
The key to all of this is Thomas Barrack. He's the one who recommended this lying scam artist to another lying scam artist. Barrack was also the head (with Gates as deputy, I believe) of the Inaugural Committee which garnered many millions more dollars than any previous Inaugural Committee (twice as much as Obama's first - which had been a record setter).
Barrack and Manafort and Gates.
Maybe somebody should really be looking into Thomas Barrack. Rachel Maddow focused long ago on the 'something fishy' about the Inaugural Committee raking in so much money. (Like Melania's friend who made $26,000,000. I wonder if any of that money came back to FLOTUS or to Mr. Gates or Mr. Barrack?).
Never in America has there ever been such a collection of liars, thieves, scoundrels, misogynists, racists, tall tale tellers, just plain horrible people.
Please! We must hold them ALL ACCOUNTABLE in November!
12
@sophia
I agree. Tom Barrack needs to be investigated.
1...promoting Manafort to Trump
2...the Inaugural funds (slush fund/hush money?)
3..hired Gates, even after Manafort was charged
4.. working with Flynn to get nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia, getting sanctions against Russia lifted so they could work together.
If you connect the dots you have a path.
1
Donald Trump claims to only surrounds himself with the "Best" people.
Yep, they are the"Best" at...Greed, Corruption, Lies, Fraud, Conspiracy and Manipulation.
4
Had he simply paid his taxes and lived a little more modestly (say $100 shirts instead of $1000 shirts) he would be a very wealthy man, set for life.
He had the wherewithal to get to 60 million in 5 years and to have blown it all is simply foolish.
6
Greed, Deception and Ego- The republican manifesto!
This is what the puppet ronald reagan unleashed upon America.
This is the reason for the de-regulation that has turned us all into prey for those with more money at all levels as if that is normal and what the founders intended.
This is why they make "Government by the people" sound like government by a foreign potentate when the people want to properly protect themselves from bad actors or make their own lives better.
This, Greed, Deception and Ego, is the reason republicans should not exist as an organized entity.
Manafort was only able to do what he did due to de-regulation which I am sure he helped usher in with the industry written changes.
The admonishment not to turn and look at his wife needs to be explained as that is an irrational and probably illegal order.
"Mr. Trump is a notorious skinflint" I cannot convey the joy seeing those words in the NYT bring to me.
3
"A tale of greed, deception and ego..."
could apply to this entire executive administration, from sleazy Manafort, sycophants pushing lies, hateful policy and the erosion of democracy, crony cabinet members with untold untaxed offshore wealth and limitless ways to enrich themselves at taxpayer expense, family "advisors" lining up business deals in violation of the emoluments clause — to the compromised emperor of the slag heap, who enjoys paid access at family brand properties, when he isn't ingratiating himself to despots. Hardly public service.
The fish rots from the head down.
Vote!
6
And yet, good honest but economically poor people get kicked out of their homes if they miss a payment or two. Manafort kept his scam going for a very long time.
I love to watch a video of him at the Republican convention answering a question about Russia and the change in platform. What a bad liar! Hemming and hawing, stumbling all over his words.
Hope he goes to prison for a very, very long time. And I hope his former boss, He of the Orange Hair, follows him right in and hears those doors clang behind him.
Both crooks. Both liars. Both deserve prison for what they've done to America.
21
I always think guys who steal tens of millions of dollars bury some money. But one tell in this story tells me Manafort was too greedy to do even this...he couldn't pay for his Yankee tickets!
2
"Ego Greed, and Deception" should be the name of the entire Republican Party now under Trump. Call it the EGD Party, because it is certainly no longer "the party of Lincoln" and is a total disgrace to our country.
And the entire Republican Party is a disgrace for supporting Trump and his deplorable EGD appointees.
9
Apparently, the ONLY qualification Trump's campaign required for admission to the West Wing is loyalty. No vetting; nothing more. PATHETIC!
2
How does a person who allegedly collected north of $65 mil, while evading taxes, go broke? Manafort is supposed to be a genius, but in this case he’s more of an idiot/savant, without the savant part.
Here’s an exercise for everyone. Try to figure out how you’d spend $65 mil over such a short time. I did and ran out of ideas around $2 mil. Then again, I’m against coats made out of ostrich feathers.
12
“Manafort thought that if something was expensive, it meant it was good.”
So, he’s like a more sophisticated version of Donald Trump?
Every time I think I’ve begun to see how deep this hole is, the ground beneath my feet starts to collapse.
4
If this article ought to show us anything, it's that Donald Trump surrounds hisself with a lot of people who have no limits: no limits to their greediness, no limits to their shemelessness, no limits to their sense of entitlement.
Omorosa's the same; she's just not as good at it. Mnuchin's wife? The same. Price, deVos, and so on? The same. Gimme, gimme more, no, you ain't gimme enough, shaddap and gimme more. How dare you question what I do.
And clowns like Mike Pence are no better: only diff is, money doesn't interest them. Shoving their Jesus down everybody's throats, that interests them.
So far, Trump's got away with his own lazy greediness, shovng the consequences down the road, or depending on competent officals--and yes,nthere are some still--to plaster over the disasters.
But at some point, the luck's going to run dry....worse than in Puerto Rico. Then Manafort's tax and banking frauds will be the least of our problems.
4
This guy is total creep, which is typical of the slime which survive in the world of Donald Trump. Even after he is found guilty and he will be found guilty dummies from Pennsylvania; Ohio and rest of the Confederacy will still defend The Donald.
All of those who voted for Trump should be forced to watch and listen for hours on end the Best Speeches of Nancy Pelosi!
2
Both Don the Con and Manfort have a central, shared personalty characteristic...overwhelming greed with a sense of entitlement. Neither care much for fairness or legality. They both live a lives built on scam or screw you. Neither are nothing special as each would have us believe. They represent the worst in finance, capitalism, and credible business acumen.
There is no magic wand or personality that can fix the problems we face. Unless we face our issues together and objectively, then we will only continue to spiral down this current rabbit hole of utter incompetence, racism and hate mongering.
6
I am struggling to see much of a difference between Trump's "wealth" -- which is completely subsumed by loans and debt on every possible level -- and Manafort's false wealth built on loans from falsified documents.
The two men are cut from the same "confidence man" cloth.
8
If the Mueller investigation had not happened my understanding is that Manafort would not have faced charges despite the FBI having him under surveillance for years. What is going on? How many other high flyers who play fast and loose go unprosecuted? Trump and family including Kushner are a perfect example. Don Jnr. and Ivanka were to be indicted on the Trump Soho project but suddenly charges were dropped. Meanwhile, down on the street the average person gets no such special consideration.
29
What a crew!
3
Manafort broke the law. He didn't register as foreign agent when he was supposed to. He helped to "cook the books". And he considered himself to be above the law which, while it's not breaking the law, did lead him to do it.
In America no one is above the law, not the president, not his friends, not even Supreme Court Justices. If Manafort had used his intelligence well he would have obeyed the laws and would not be on trial now. At least his schemes haven't hurt an entire country. The next person who needs to be looked at is Trump with his convoluted finances. The way Trump is behaving with Russia and his attacks on Mueller leads this reader to believe that he is hiding his own illegal financial doings among other things.
9
Nothing like this would be happening to Manafort if he did not work for a particular president who is so highly unpopular with government officials. Nor does it happen to thousands of other people who do this type of semi-illegal tax dodge. As I understand it, much of what Manafort did wasn't illegal on its face, but he probably just doesn't have enough friends in the Establishment to help him through this.
If people like Manafort and Trump paid their fair share of taxes, a lot of needy people in our society could be helped. If we didn't have to give businesses kick backs on their local taxes, our roads and other city services would be in much better shape. If wealthy people had to contribute payroll taxes - which they should, because there is no guarantee their wealth won't evaporate and they need Social Security some day - that program would be on a sound footing. Tax fraud probably contributes as much as racism to our divisive society and Donald Trump proudly represents both. November 6, 2018.
29
How can there not be an in-depth vetting process in place for the postion of a Presidential Campaign Manager and an even more rigorous vetting of a nominated Presidential Candidate? Add a required psychological and physical exam, character references, background checks, financial disclosures and tax records to the vetting and neither Manafort nor Trump would ever have gotten near that GOP Convention stage.
One more important requirement--extensive polygraph tests to check for lies!
4
Pres. Trump and Mr. Manafort share the same affliction - believing their nouveau riche wealth would buy them acceptance. Trump, shunned by monied NY'ers, became his own publicist while Manafort, consigliere to dictators and thugs, became desperate to maintain his wealthy image and profligate lifestyle.
That Trump never vetted Manafort is unsurprising; he needed him to whip delegates. But, if your next choice is Steve Bannon then that says it all about Trump alleging that he hires "only the best people."
There's something pitiful about these particular aging men so desperate to be relevant and accepted, as Father Time draws near. Manafort and Trump can both be filed, to their everlasting chagrin, under "a life not well-lived."
2
Once Trump's real financial situation becomes as well investigated and documented as Manafort's, I'd bet we see that our president is in much the same straits, if not worse, seeing as how he has been "rich" much longer than has Manafort.
5
Virtually everyone in the Trump circle have monetized their political and governmental position, most especially Trump. When are they held to account? This includes Trump, his family, his cabinet, & friends like Barrack. All got richer quickly.
6
Parametric application of the Law is distinctly unusual and troubling for those who find themselves on the inverted side of a pyramid where they were previously on top. As I detail in my book Prison As Power, Barnett Newman's inverted pyramid outside of the Rothko Chapel is a symbol of these "great falls." Administratively the Law tends to continually hyper punish those at the lower end of the pyramid (social stratification); Black, Latino, Native American, poor and working class people are subjected to far greater punishments, belying the notion of equality before the Law. When someone like Manafort, because of extraordinary circumstances, is placed before a prosecuting matrix, the entire elite class distances itself from that individual. Manafort's behavior is an extreme version of grift that the wealthy engage in all the time. Elon Musk's Tweet about Tesla going private to Jamie Dimon and Hank Paulson's rapacious greed after 2008, using the crisis to further enrich themselves, all of this goes understated because Capitalist Plutocracy needs to protect its parasites. Let the Manafort case continue by all means, but dear Zeus let's go after the entire class of people that act in similar fashion. Leave the low level, poor people alone. Eric Garner was executed for selling loose cigarettes. Manafort was on bail until it came to light that he was tampering with witnesses in a Federal investigation. Let that sink in.
5
I wonder why Manafort's letting himself be subjected to this.
A conviction seems assured, his dirty laundry is being aired like an ad banner over the Jersey Shore, and, if Trump loathes Manafort as reported here, a post-conviction pardon appears unlikely.
Perhaps Manafort's "associates" in Ukraine and Russia influenced his decision not to cooperate.
10
There is a huge difference between Trump and Manafort that my fellow commentators seem to overlook. We knew who Trump was even before he started to run for the presidency (and we, the people, elected him nevertheless) but very few of us ever heard of Manafort up until about 2 years ago. Manafort’s money laundering spending spree is beyond belief and it is probably without precedence.
3
Great article, just a few questions..
Who is supporting Paul Manafort's financial house of cards today?
If he is in such financial distress, why has he not grabbed a plea deal with Mueller?
Who is he protecting and Why?
Thanks to the great reporting of the NYT, we shall all find out soon enough.
15
After reading McCullough's biography of Teddy Roosevelt, I'm struck by the contrast between TR, who practiced noblesse oblige, and these latter-day silver-spooners like Manafort and Trump, whose only concerns are for themselves. I cannot adequately express my contempt.
We should be sure to put these and all other "white-collar criminals" in the same prisons where the less privileged are kept... to see how the other half live.
432
@Observer I have said for decades that only when we treat white collar criminals like we treat blue collar perps, will the threat of jail act to deter their egregious thefts of our national wealth.
7
@Observer Neither Manafort nor the Trump's should be considered 'silver spooners' in the sense that the Roosevelts were. We are past that stage in our history-welcome to the 'age of the common man'. Are we so much better off now that the American aristocracy has devolved into the Trumps, Manaforts, those in Trumps cabinet?
5
@Observer Trump is the anti-TR: Talk loudly, and carry a little stick. (Think; insults, tariffs, self-aggrandizement.)
3
I wonder if his wife is not a mite relieved. It doesn't appear to have become common knowledge that he used her
https://spectator.us/2018/07/has-mom-been-tested-for-stds-the-manaforts-...
The follow is all quote:
"One daughter purportedly tells another that their father regularly made their mother have sex with a “room full of men”. (It appears that the texts are reproduced with the same spelling and punctuation as originally written.)
“dad tapes it all”
“Poor mom”
“Dad is a sex addict”
Yet more bizarrely, it seems both parents shared these painful secrets with their (grown-up) daughters in an attempt to save their marriage.
“he has too many skeletons, he can’t have a public divorce.”
“the issue was he wanted her to WANT to have the group sex and got upset she didn’t”
“Has mom been tested for STDs?”
It is not merely prurient to reproduce these intensely private exchanges. Paul Manafort was no grey functionary fleetingly hired by Trump to run his campaign, as the White House tried to persuade people when he was charged. It always seems wrong to say of Trump that he has “friends,” but Manafort moved in the same social circles, where it appears that group sex, public sex, or just weird sex was not unusual. This may matter because President Trump now faces allegations that a foreign power, Russia, is blackmailing him with sex tapes."
12
All the claims that Trump didn't vet Manafort are quite silly, since Manafort's Russian ties had to be a plus for Trump.
Speaking of vetting, since Trump didn't show his tax returns, and there's apparent evidence of Russian money laundering, it looks like Trump wasn't vetted either.
After the Manafort trial, does Trump get to pardon him?
Total corruption, right out in the open.
72
Trump was in fact "vetted;" by October 2016, anybody who bothered to look for five minutes knew perfectly well that the guy's a loudmouthed, bullying crook who'll pretty much say and do anything for power and for money.
The Right didn't care: they figured he'd beat up their enemies. A lot of independents didn't care: they wanted him to blow stuff up. Too many of the Left didn't care: they went around yelling that Hillary Clinton was no better, because St. Bernie got beat in the primaries.
Point is, the claim that nobody knew about this guy is an alibi. We knew darn well.
4
@Stephen
Trump is sure to pardon Manafort federal crimes, but it's my understanding to accept a pardon, Manafort must admit guilt.
No pardons for state charges though.
Just as Manafort's greed and ego helped to bring him to account finally, so too it should be for his friend Donald Trump.
41
You have to figure Manafort is playing long odds. I can't see a jury letting him off the hook. You therefore have to wonder: What personal assurances has Manafort already received? A rational individual would be singing to Mueller by now. Witness Gates. My favorite professor always taught me to look for things that seem out of place. Well, Manafort's silence seems out of place. I would like to understand why.
32
@Andy
If Manafort squeals, he may be worried about retaliation by Russian agents as well.
5
@Andy -- do you know the joke that ends with "... and who knows, perhaps the horse might sing?"
Manafort is playing for time, hoping for a miracle. A big part of this is doing his masters' (multiple ones now) bidding. Trump and the Republicans don't want Manafort to squeal, but if he will be forced to do that, much better after the 2018 election.
What the Russians can get out of Manafort now is similarly aligned.
Everybody keeps talking about a Trump pardon for Manafort, to keep his mouth shut. That won't happen without Trump getting impeached.
What's much more likely to keep Manafort's mouth shut is the threat of assassination by the Russians ... depending on what he might blab.
Going to a high security federal prison and keeping his mouth shut is Manafort's best chance of staying alive.
3
It's an old story. Greed and hubris are triumphant in many lives.
So goes the fall.
16
More frightening though is - how such an extensive and rampant crime got undetected by US govt agencies, including IRA, FBI and so many intelligence services and financial watchdogs for which American tax payers like me are forced to pay a lot.
This crime by a foreign agent (in all practical sense) would not come to law enforcement and court if Muller investigation was not ordered, due to failure of Justice department to allow James Commey's FBI to investigate Russia collusion. I'm sure there are many such 'small fishes" like this Manafort. It would not be unfair to assume that many 'big fishes" routinely get way with such crimes since long.
This Muller investigation would mean nothing if the main alleged criminal, Trump, goes scott free and American justice system is unable to prosecute and successfully convict him to put in in lifetime jail sentence without parole, if convicted.
274
@Bonku
This sort of thing is the whole and only point of republican de-regulation.
5
@Bonku Makes you wonder how many more Manaforts, and Collinses, and Wilbur Rosses, etc there are out there - evading taxes, defrauding banks, living expensive lies. Many Americans worship the wealthy, many of whom are con-men like Manafort and Trump.
2
@Bonku
Such crimes happen when Trump overrules any vetting! After all Mr. Trump knows more than anyone else!!
1
I have trouble relating to Manafort's way of thinking. But then again, I have trouble relating to Trump's way of thinking, too. Both seem to have a moral compass that is trapped in a chaotic magnetic field. Swinging all over the place, wherever it suits them in the moment. Yet, amazingly, they have people running after them like blinded sheep. Although, not so much after Manafort these days, but Trump still have blinded half the country with his snake oil salesman tactics. The conned still cannot admit that they have been conned. Big time!
It also boggles my mind how someone can burn through $60 M. Taking out a loan of $5 M on a house!
Anyone should be able to live comfortably off $5 M for the rest of their lives even without being fortunate enough of having a fulfilling job, let alone $ 60 M!
Does the guy even think anyone would take him serious when he is appealing to people to make donations to his legal defense fund????
445
@Kara Ben Nemsi
"Both [Trump and Manafort] seem to have a moral compass that is trapped in a chaotic magnetic field. Swinging all over the place, wherever it suits them in the moment."
I would like to respectfully disagree - neither man has anything that even vaguely resembles a moral compass.
4
@Kara Ben Nemsi there are perhaps people who want to make sure that what he knows never gets revealed and would pay to make sure of it.
3
currency to these people is what they have on OTHER people.
Im certain that the list of folks Manafort, like Cohen has dirt on is extensive. That s the cash they keep in their pocket.
2
The article is a witness for the prosecution. It takes events that may have other explanation and presents one very biased and committed view. This man is on trial and such a piece is inappropriate as it shapes public opinion. If the jury is not convinced, this article suggests that the fix must have been in.
The description of the " popular " uprising in Ukraine seems to look past the US effort to unseat the President, the rise of neo-Nazi factions ( Svoboda and RIght Sector ) and our implicit support as they assumed Cabinet posts after the fall. There is no mention that the President rejected the EU deal and accepted Putin's economic offering especially in light of the East leaning part of Ukraine that Yanukovych repesented.
PS. will somebody explain to me why the Keith Ellison story ...being accused of domestic and sexual violence, has not appeared in the NYT or the WP???
4
@Joel Levine
Which of the statements about Manafort are you saying are not true?
And as for Keith Ellison ... you're playing "whataboutism," and it's a facebook allegation made by the son of the woman in question, who has herself remained silent. He claim there is video, but where is it?
Until/unless the woman makes the allegation or video surfaces, it's a total nothingburger.
Neither the NYT or the WaPo covered the "Katie Johnson" allegations against Trump. At least in that case a lawsuit was filed, that could have been covered as straight news.
But both mainstream papers did not.
And that one will blow up yuuugely again if we learn that she was one of the other undisclosed women Trump paid off.
3
Ego, greed, deception...no wonder tump once loved him. Two of a kind obviously.
Describes most of tump's inner circle of course, too.
His rise to fraudulently obtained wealth, his bankruptcy and fall into ignominy is just a foretaste of what will be the final chapter of tump's life.
Both headed to the dustbin as arrogant, lying fools and failures...with their final days in jail. Appropriate for both, with the elected dolt's time coming soon.
20
@dreMaybe they will get to be roomies with Bernie Madoff?
"greed;deception;ego" could be the logo for Trump/GOP. Vote out GOP for a decent America. Ray Sipe
14
That ancient graveyard of corpses from whom Manafort drew his inspiration is filling up fast thanks to the Donald J. Trump time in office!
3
Who needs the slow , tedious American judicial system to render a judgement of quilt or innocence ? We now have the New York Times and other MSM outlets to speed up that process by holding daily Trials By Front Page Allegations . AND the MSM can hide behind " freedom of the press " during this process of mixing news with biased opinions ! Target, freeze, isolate and destroy ! All with the stoke of a pen ! ( wife )
1
@richard Name one thing the Times reported on Manafort that was not true. By the way, the Times reporting on the Ukraine money led to Trump getting rid of him.
2
@richard This article is essential a timeline of events. No opinion offered. Of course Trump supporters are averse to facts. They have crawled so far down the rabbit hole and have become so fat on a steady diet of Fox "news" that they cant turn around to see the light. Keep digging maybe you will find China.
3
@Stephen Dale: Sorry but I do not believe in Trial By MSM . I am also adverse to Front Page Character Assassinations which seems to be in vogue , especially since the IndivisibleAgainstTrump Democrats lost the 2016 election. ( wife )
Manafort is a big bragger and a poor manager. Washington is loaded with such losers.
8
The biggest being Trump.
1
Trump almost looks clean alongside Manafort in this article. "Skinflint" seems practically virtuous next to profligate Manafort. As described, Trump's apparent distance from Manafort and dislike of Gates appear prescient.
Also, I wish the reporters had made clear who had hacked Manafort's daughter's text messages alluded to in the article. His children are sympathetic figures. I won't contrast them with the elder three of the Don's.
4
Mr. Manafort was a perfect employee for Trump: a high-powered pol who offered to work for nothing. Usually Trump hires people and then just doesn't pay; with Manafort he didn't even have to lie. Anyway, why buy shirts for $1500 when anyone knows that $1400 shirts are just as good?
18
Don't blame Mr. Manafort. These days, the ability to borrow money is more admired in American culture than honesty and diligence. We idolize people who throw millions around, no matter how those people came by it. Manafort, Gates, Trump, et al: the transparency of their moral decrepitude is only a symptom of the greater problem that we have all ignored. Personal greed over the common good is not a viable strategy for survival. We must start to concern ourselves with each other's well-being or this country isn't going to make it.
10
And we mustn't forget those who further enriched themselves at the expense of US taxpayers and global markets after the 2008 crisis, from Jamie Dimon to Hank Paulson.
3
My father was an iron miner on Minnesota's Iron Range. He was a drill operator and "blaster." My m other owned a small school bus that transported kids to a local school and to a stop where older kids were transported to a school thirty miles away. They built their house from logs during the Depression. They raised five kids there. They made little money. What they did make was the community in which they lived a better place. This man gave nothing; he only took. My parents' names are respected in their community. This man will die a broken man, broken from his greed and lack of empathy. I can only hope that his former boss will follow in his footsteps.
30
This man gave nothing
He brought at least $60 million of Yugoslav money into the US economy.
We don't know how much from other countries.
That's a lot of iron ore Manafort brought into the US.
Manafort thought that he could act with impunity no matter what but now he is facing judgement. Will Trump pardon him?
2
Yeah, the BEST people. In Federal Prison. It's like a direct pipeline, eventually. Seriously.
16
Paul Manafort thinks he is above the law - so does Trump. Will Trump prove them both right, and pardon Manafort if he is convicted of a crime ?
It is obvious Manafort and Trump have arranged a quid pro quo for Manaforts silence in the Russia investigation.
12
Maybe PJ will need to reach out to Robert Meuller, who would very much like to know the details of a certain meeting in Trump Tower which PJ attended.
2
A more comprehensive look at Manafort than seen to date.
My suspicions about his early exposure to fraud as standard operating procedure in Connecticut politics turned out to be true - and it wasn't only the connection to the constructions business. He just took this to an unheard of level. He wasn't competing - with politicians for power - he wanted the trappings of a film or music celebrity, or maybe an oil mogul.
What's more, he came close to being able to do this legally.
Lobbying - the entire pay to play game of politics here - is inherently unscrupulous and cannot but lead to damaging influence over elected officials. We can fight for reform and stop it - make it illegal, limit campaign finances. Or we can watch as the game gets as dirty here as it was in the Ukraine.
33
@cheryl
It's amazing that so much lobbying is legal. It serves no civic purpose. The game is rigged.
1
I know this is not the place to mention this, but i feel I must do this quickly, and I can't find the correct section to write this, but, there is hardly any acknowledgement of the failing New York president in this morning's edition of the NYT, and no story is devoted only to him.
The reports/stories are about other things going on in our world.
What a breath of FRESH AIR!!
Please, keep it up, I like fresh air.
10
Suggesting that Manafort "stained" Trump's pristine enterprise reminds me of my old junker 1955 Chevy that I bought for $150 in 1966. I used to joke that I didn't care if I ran into something because it was so dented that any further collision would probably straighten it out.
Trump is a '55 Chevy and Manafort is a car wreck.
22
“His trial also underscores questions about how someone in such deep financial trouble rose to the top of the Trump campaign, spreading a stain that has touched the president’s innermost circle.” This line is a joke, right? Because it had me on the floor, doubled over in laughter.
17
If you have any contacts who are Republican and are Trump supporters, please tell them to tell their friends to start believing their own eyes - that the Earth is not flat, and Trump does not hire the best people.
14
An argument can be made that Hillary Clinton succumbed to a similar temptation to peddle influence and enrich herself by accepting big Wall St. money for speeches.
Legal it was. But by having to defend herself from the charge of greed, it cost her mightily.
7
Absolutely true. Though I can’t help noting the irony that, unlike our commander in chief, Clinton published 20 years of tax returns.
20
I did a Google maps satellite image to take a look at Mr Manafort's property in the Hamptons. Sad to say Mr. Manafort but the only real estate in the Hampton's that truly matter (IMO) are the ocean front properties. Anything else is just another (albeit very expensive) piece of Long Island suburbia. You shouldn't have wasted your money. Oh wait, it wasn't your money...
13
I'm hoping to see his partner Roger Stone in court soon.
26
who needs to watch TV shows like Homeland when we have DC corruption stories before our eyes.
8
I hope to see this degree of investigation for all Presidents, past and present, and for all their varied staff. no more courtesy passes. When a senator or representative or their family members or friends become rich while they are in office we need criminal level investigations of just how they and their friends are making their money. How can a foundation pay an inexperienced college graduate half a million a year? What are those foundations doing? What makes an ex-President's speech worth millions? Or even a few hundred thousand? It doesn't pass the smell test.
11
“Manafort thought that if something was expensive, it meant it was good.”
I think in economics that’s called a perverted demand curve.
13
The picture that this "brilliant political mind" is disheveled and debt-ridden has got to be part of his plan. Whether Trump pardons him after a cooling off period or not, this guy has MILLIONS hidden away.
19
Please tell us what proof you have?
1 Timothy 6:10 English Standard Version (ESV)
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
The advent of "greed is good" Christian evangelicalism , has brought us here.
Im not for organized religion, since the Sermon on the Mount and the banishment of the moneylenders in the Temple is ignored by American religious exceptionalism.
Jesus would pitch a fit at what we have become.
24
Believe Jesus migbt have to get in line. Plenty of fit throwing to go round!
1
Manafort was a poser, not a closer, which Trump apparently sensed. Will the investigation dead-end with him?
1
He was Trumps campaign manager. Trump ‘sensed’ NOTHING.
3
The greed depicted in today’s Times is overwhelming.
First there is the Editorial Board’s piece laying out in chapter and verse how the GOP’s massive tax cuts to corporations and the very rich were not used "to turbocharge the American economy [or] provide a much needed helping hand to working-class families" but rather just got stuffed back into corporate coffers and personal pockets to make the very rich very much richer. Then we have this piece revealing Paul Manafort to be a virtual caricature of greed. Sixty million wasn't nearly enough to sate his appetites so he allegedly had to resort to massive tax and bank fraud to get more.
Add that to earlier reports of the Koch brothers, who between them are worth over $100 billion and who nonetheless lobbied their home state of Kansas to reduce taxes to the point the government could not provide basic services and was forced to close schools. When the Kansas Supreme Court declared that the Kansas constitution required the state to finance public education, the Koch lobby proposed a constitutional amendment to remove the requirement.
At what point is the American public sickened by the already-rich grabbing for more and more and more--whether robbing the tax coffers to get it or using the power of their wealth to keep from paying their fair share in the first place? At what point does the American public realize they are the schmucks being squeezed by those for whom millions and billions are never enough?
76
Greed is a cancer on humanity.
If we cannot check personally then it should be checked by the state with taxes.
15
60 million is a lot of money. Why and how on earth did he spend it all and run out when the spigot ran dry? Why didn't he save some for a rainy day? Manafort is a true spendaholic gripped by greed and addiction to 'stuff'. Are all the uber wealthy Trumpian staff and admin people like him? I fear the other greedy ones surrounding trump are busy behind the scenes doing similar damage to government coffers. Is anyone overseeing them?
We can't get this bunch of greedy deplorables out soon enough.
11
@Ellen Sullivan
Pruitt was a Manafort without the money or the con.
1
Ego, greed, and deception (in your headline) -- the story of Trump, easily the most corrupt of all the corrupt people he attracts. Add his ignorance of and disdain for the Constitution and ideals of justice, and you have the most "disgraceful" presidency in American history.
27
He will break and testify. The governments case is strong and he’ll make a deal with the prosecutions. After he’s convicted. He’ll do some prison time, get a book deal upon release and become born again christian . This type of twisted person are best at survival. Pitiful
5
@M Camargo
Too late for a deal unless he has some juicy, juicy stuff to trade.
Ok .....as far as “manafort ,the son of a small town mayor”....wrong!
Manaforts family knew my family in New Britain,Ct.
His dad was a “ Destroyer “and Crooked as they come.
He got to destroy his city during the 1960’s by merging with another crooked New Britain “ family ;The Tomassos.
Manafort allowed Main Street New Britain to be gutted with a highway and he condemned Layfayette St.( Hispanic retail and fresh produce and budding culture)and bulldozed the Boys Club and all the shops of small business owners on East Main St..for Tomassos’s “ New Britanite road surfacing product. Mayor
Manafort was instrumental in destroying the manufacturing base of New Britain by building an interstate through the Main Street district adjacent to Stanley Works, Fafnir Bearings, Universal, New Britain Machine,which employed a majority of local residents. New Britain lost status in the USA as the “ The Hardware City”. The Manaforts are not altruistic community leaders and Mayor Manafort became Commisioner Manafort for the state Redevelopment Department..
Our current crooked Manafort garnered a reputation in school as a pompous bully.
Come visit decimated Connecticut and our highways .
Manaforts’ Family legacy.
57
Manafort was not one of the best hires, but he was definitely one of the best “you’re fired”. Glad he was fired before selling access to Trump. Wait a minute....did he....
7
“Behind every great fortune there is a crime”— attributed to Honore de Balzac by Mario Puzo in his preface to The Godfather (1969).
15
This is unprecedented territory for all of us. It's the equivalent of organized crime taking over control of the country. On the surface they try and look and act "legit". But right below the surface the sharks are swimming dipping their beaks in wherever they smell money. Lying, cheating, swindling are all a part of the plan to get as much as you can as fast as you can. Trump's borrowing, building and bankrupty's are all part of the dance. It was the "the skim" that forced the casinos to close in AC...after the mob sold the concrete, they carried out the suitcases full of cash out of the ":countroom" after the opening. Bills couldn't be paid. Manafort and Trump are kindred spirits. Bound at the hip. Manafort is emblematic of the obvious "ties to Russia"...that's where the money was. I mean how much more evidence do we need...the guy has ties to Russia...financial and criminal.? And Trump brings him on board. Now they are all flipping on each other to reduce their prison time... Like a scene out of the Polish Godfather
24
I believe it was George Orwell who said (to paraphrase): “It’s always the same: First you go broke slowly. Then you go broke fast”.
14
@Scott Callahan
"How did you go bankrupt?"
"Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly."
The Sun Also Rises
“Paul never believed that the rules applied to him“
It is hard to read of all this hubris and fraud and not imagine you know who in the defendant box
9
Republican lemmings admire a guy like Manafort...and Trump...for sticking it to the system and stealing huge sums. They despise “those people” who they assume are all welfare cheats..and even the few that do cheat can’t steal enough to even make roundings in Manafort’s thefts.
8
This tale of Manafort echoes that of Trump in so many ways. Both are men, so insecure in their own minds, that only outrageous displays of wealth are enough to make them feel good. But like any drug, when it comes to wealth there's never enough.
I might feel sorry for Trump and Manafort if these two pathetic men only stabbed themselves and their immediate families in their never ending quests for acceptance and approval. But, sadly, their stink eventually rubs off on everyone and everything they touch.
14
Gee, a fraud lying about his wealth scheming to profit off a trump presidency—just like his boss!
15
A slightly more civilized form of Darwinism. He will now be extinct and there will be little benefit to his progeny, themselves as damaged as he is. Hopefully, Republicans will learn someday.
8
Liars, crooks and cheaters who even steal from the cheaters they associate with -- all the "best people" around Trump.
13
Call me superficial but I can't help being horrified by how bad Manafort's taste was. To spend so much or such ugly and ill fitting garbage shows real stupidity. However, one point of interest that has been raised; there is evidence that the amounts that Manafort is recorded as having spent were, in many cases, much higher than the amounts recorded as being received? Could this involve him in money laundering?
7
The photo of Manafort at the top of the article is telling if you have taken up the study of body language. Manafort's lack of empathy for the "mark" is writ large in that gaze.
And like a well-honed con artist, he can combine an actor's facial features with the words the mark wants to hear, translating that convergence of evil into another great con job.
As this trial moves forward, we will witness another downfall of a con man. Like Bernia Madoff, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates flew too close to the sun in their pursuit of power and money.
With the Trump administration — including Trump himself — symbolizing how greed and corruption can work to great personal advantage, one can only hope TeamMueller can present enough evidence to send DJT packing, to a federal prison if fate has any shred of kindness.
23
Lawyers usually say never put the defendant on the stand, However, in this case it will be Manafort's best chance at a hung jury (as opposed to HANGING jury).
On the stand he can be asked- did you stiff any of your lenders? Fact is technically many borrowers "defraud" banks, but if they repay, no indictment on the basis of "no harm, no foul". Creating the impression that this trial is not about what's on paper, but about something bigger...leading to Manafort being asked if he thinks he would get a deal, like his former partner, from Mueller. Allowing his defense to be- they are trying to take down the President.
Which is the real game. Which is a real loser, if one read Conway right on the Sunday morn yak where she brought up Steele... Any "collusion with a foreign government" applies to the Clinton campaign and Steele in aces. He was receiving dirt, in the form of secret (raw) files from MI6, his old buds. (In reality it was a flagwash Op, to hide the fact that the originators- US Intel- was attempting to "influence" events- one should be careful throwing around the term treason given such lights).
The fun twist to the plot would be a final admission that the Russians handed over a dossier on the creation of The Dossier... in any event Russia as a campaign strategy is a charge down into the Little Big Horn come that November day...
@ MJ: Your comments about the legality of the Steele dossier gave me pause for thought. However, on reflection, that is quite different - the information was not stolen to order by a hostile power (which increasingly looks as though this was the case) and it was not used by the Clinton campaign, but was instead reported to the authorities (which is what DT jr should have done). Furthermore, it was not an illegal campaign donation, as the research was paid for. I recommend reading this article for more clarity: https://www.businessinsider.com/differences-between-steele-dossier-and-t...
Oh Lord. I almost couldn't get past the first paragraph. Yankee ticket specialist? What does that say about us? I guess you're not supposed to list your job title as "seller of overpriced goods or services to very rich people or businesses".
6
I wonder how many more Manaforts are out there. There are so many people who just don't believe the rules apply to them. They have learned how to scam the system. They are only concerned with their own personal goals. They do not care if others are hurt? When caught, all they can say is that the legal system is not fair. They lie and try to hide the evidence. Disgusting people.
8
So many white male GOP are sleazy and corrupt it is just disgraceful that their Party is too debased and lawless to vet them properly beforehand. No white GOP men should ever be in positions of “power” is the takeaway here. They are untrustworthy and incompetent.
5
How could you totally miss the Manafort crime family in New Britain, Conn. and how they controlled the trash disposal business in the state after several years of "taking out the competition".
Not a very good job of digging into Paul Manafort's background in New Britain....his father was much more than the "mayor". People feared the Manafort family....for good reason.
38
I wouldn't be too sure about the "fall" part of this. Manafort is like a tick that you flush down the toilet and next thing you know, it's crawling out the sink.
But even if this really does spell his end, he's far from being our biggest worry. Trump may hate him, but only because he was cutting too deeply into the incoming foreign cash flow. And Trump has a stable full of his own Rick Gateses, all with way more to lose than him.
We're governed by a snake with a hundred heads.
39
The thing I find amazing about stories like this is that Manfort could have sold a few houses, focused on investing his mint and lived in luxury for the rest of his life. So, he'd have to forgo extraordinary extravagance, but he could still own several houses, and golf at places like Mar-a-lago.
13
If he'd invested just half of that $60 mill in the stock market, rather than spending it all on ostrich jackets and karaoke systems, he'd probably have a cool $100 mill by now. He could buy another house.
1
It is irrelevant what Guiliani says....he is a shifty liar. We should "call a spade a spade" instead of giving him all this publicity....."Guilliani says".... blah,blah. I am not talking about incivility (we have enough of that in this White House!). I am talking about common sense. Remember Josef Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister. "All that has to happen to destroy democracies is to repeat a Big Lie over and over again." All the print and air space that Guiliani hogs brings us ever farther from any objective truth and reality. I sure hope Mueller will save us!
15
When I read about scum like Paul Manafort I am unfaithful to the authors and their good work. I get about halfway or two thirds through the reporting and am so disgusted I just can't read the rest.
10
The mileage in this article comes from the fact that Manafort worked as campaign chairman on the Trump campaign for a short period, other than that... It's a tax case, actually a very simple case not unlike thousands of others, that's it.
Any news?
4
@Rob Campbell: You can try to dismiss this, but at it's heart trump's campaign manager was intimately involved with Russian mobsters, who are intimately involved with Putin. Manafort was brought in by trump exactly because he knew his way around Russian mob money. trump is owned and operated by Vlad Putin. It started before trump decided to run for President.
5
@chamber, have you considered a future writing novels? I would buy it!
Manafort is an American Trimalchio. He represents one of the problems stemming from American upward mobility, as does Bill Clinton on the other side of the political spectrum. In other words, you can take the boy out of New Britain (or Arkansas), but you can't take New Britain out of the boy. Just as Bill Clinton had terrible taste when it came to women, Manafort displays it in regard to almost everything else. Both men are gauche and simply don't know the proper way to behave. It's a recurring theme in American life -- poor or lower middle class boy makes good, then embarrasses himself over and over again. The nouveau riche just can't help themselves. And there's no one to teach them.
10
@Jon Harrison Bill Clinton never attempted to align with Russia, Putin, or Russian mobsters the way trump has. Dragging Clinton and the democrats into this discussion about trump, Manafort, and the lying, thieving republicans is a big fail.
8
A well written, organized and concise summary of the Manafort story. I especially appreciate the little nugget of the $210,000 it costs to sit behind the Yankees dugout for a season. Anyone who would pay that much to an organization that cares so little for it's fans that it would charge that much (and $50 to park your car as well) is a fool. Case closed.
44
Greed, deception, and ego. Doesn't that fit Trump and every single person he surrounds himself with?
19
If you haven't watched "Go Get Roger Stone" you should - now. It puts all of the Paul Manafort stuff into context. These people have only two values in life: "make as much money as possible" and "winning is all that matters, no matter what the cost".
Trump assured us all that he hired only the best people, yet we have ample evidence that many of the people he hired for his business, campaign, and administration are/were grifters, traitors to our country, and overall sleaze bags - like trump himself. And the GOP seems perfectly fine with all that. Is anyone really surprised?
34
How many low-life compatriots of Trump will have to surface until the 40% of Trump supporters understand that when you are in a gang, you are in for life. When Trump said he was going to drain the swamp, he forgot that the creatures at the bottom were going to be exposed. Welcome to the Gangs of America. Pruit, deVos, Flynn, Porter, Cohen, Higbie, Manafort, Gates - probably Donnie Jr. and Kushner (and I am sure there are more, but I am overwhelmed and can't remember them all).
If there are still voters who support candidates because they want to support Trump, shame on them. But pity them as well, for they know not what they do. Many of them are the very ones this administration hurts the most, and the pain will be around for decades to come.
30
Judge a man by the company he keeps. Donald Trump has been surrounded by some of the most flagrantly corrupt people ever to work the system.
38
Interesting that Manafort returned to politics without understanding the use of the internet but being the the quick study that he is, in fact being "brilliant", he has established a go-fund me for his legal defense.
It is galling that he would even consider that anyone would want to contribute to his defense after such a spending spree with ill-gotten gains.
He is now an empty suit- an orange jump suit.
23
Who is paying this creep’s legal bills? His defense has got to have cost millions, and he’s broke. So who is footing the bill?
39
Those of us who followed, even vaguely, the rise and fall of Yanukovych, the non-Ukrainian-speaking, Putin puppet, knew that it was engineered by the dictators' Svengali, one Paul Manafort. Cruel monsters like Zaire’s Mobutu Sese Seko, the Philippines’ Ferdinand Marcos and Angolan rebel Jonas Savimbi were among them, "rehabilitated" by him.
Trump picking Manafort terrified me and was the first sign Trump could win--because Manafort would do whatever it took to get his man in power. Unmentioned in the article is that the totally dis-loyal Trump had his campaign SAVED by Manafort, who successfully navigated the path to the nomination when Trump was floundering and vulnerable. But if someone in his circle is making money and it's not Trump or with Trump's explicit approval, he goes apoplectic with rage.
No, Manafort hasn't been convicted yet, and he faces another federal and a New York State trial. But the weird, closed session the judge had, the kind that indicates there's a problem with a juror, is very disturbing. We KNOW Manafort attempted witness tampering from his former jail cell, and so was moved. We can only speculate on what's going on with the jury. It could be as benign as an illness or family crisis, or as sordid as tampering.
I have not one shred of sympathy for Manafort, who, like an arms dealer, cared not one whit about the lives he cost by helping the monsters he worked for, apparently with no remorse.
58
Don't forget that we have Manafort to thank for Pence as well.
1
I'd like a look at these $1500 shirts and $15,000 jackets. As a person who sews, I could use the laugh!
35
The description of Manafort's humiliation from his unkempt hair and lack of access to a stylist is poignant. I went to a Bernie Sanders town hall meeting on Friday in Bennington, where the topic was health care for all. I was shocked to see assembled a crowd of about two hundred people, many older folks, who are plainly disheveled, humiliated, unkempt, with no money for barbers, hairdressers, new clothes, healthy food. They spoke of paying for their medications over their mortgages. They have sacrificed their dignity to the onslaught of poverty caused by our government's policies of supporting the rich at the expense of the growing poor population.
1075
@vtfarmer Except Paul Manafort wasn't paying for basic necessities, such as medications you need to sustain your life and health. He was paying (or not paying) for Yankees season tickets. $15,000 jackets, $1,500 shirts, and a host of other luxuries. I hope he spends many years wearing an orange jumpsuit.
7
@vtfarmer socialists like spending money belonging to others
@vtfarmer
So heartbreaking---here we have Manafort---erstwhile spender at obscene levels--- who's "unkempt" because he is being held (and groomed, I should say, for his impending new lifestyle) during his trial contrasted with everyday citizens who work hard and play fair and cannot make ends meet let alone enjoy life.
4
An ordinary American citizen—ceteris paribus —should be prosecuted for tax and bank fraud. But ordinary American citizens don’t hide $16.5 million from the Internal Revenue Service.
Why is it that those helping themselves to the taxpayers’ money from the U.S. Treasury tend to be card-carrying members of the patriotic, honorable, moral majority party of family values?
Not only was Paul Manafort not “vetted” by the Trump For President campaign, he wasn’t vetted by the American banking institutions when he applied for loans when he did not have the funds to honor his signature. It is clearly obvious that highly-positioned money lenders in the banking industry don’t perform anything like the due diligence for wealthy applicants that they squeeze out of John or Jane America. The rich line up at the national roulette wheel of the casino-treasury and all the members of this rotten, thieving confederacy leisurely appropriate people’s hard-earned cash after dropping strategically-placed political names for lucrative lobbying work regardless of whether or not the job is clean.
Manafort and Rick Gates (allegedly) stole from American citizens. Donald Trump is clean here. At worst, he and his campaign were guilty of a sloppiness that is now a hallmark of his presidency. Fair or not, Manafort is like a clanging can tied to a howling dog’s tail. None of this looks good for Trump.
Manafort worked for Trump for five months in 2016 for free. I guess you do get what you pay for.
304
@Soxared, '04, '07, '13
I would add only that Trump is not clean here. Trump University is the most recent exmple of his being sued for stealing from other people, namely American citizens. What we don't have, yet, is proof that he has done it while in office. Tick tock.
1
@Soxared, '04, '07, '13 Let's remember though, Trump campaign didn't vet Manafort, because of his pedigree (Georgetown, Republican politics, wealth), and Calk's bank didn't vet due to his pedigree and association with Trump campaign. Many banks did vet and turned him down. Many campaigns would have also vetted and turned him down. Why would Trump or his circle be concerned with false reporting for loans, inflating value, devaluing debt, and not paying taxes are all hallmarks of the Trump playbook. Trump is NOT clean here, corruption flourishes in environments that nurture it.
2
Do you know how due diligence works? The bank isn't assuming a conspiracy to defraud their lending practices. No less than three people were involved in obtaining Manafort's fraudulent bank loans. You were right the first time. That's not normal. Manafort was acting in bad faith. Don't blame the bank. Shifty borrowers get audited at the drop of a dime. If everything looks normal and the bean counters sign off on the numbers, the bank has no reason to suspect anything is wrong. That's what happened. The loans were essentially reverse mortgages anyway. That's a pretty low risk situation for the bank.
2
It appears Donald Trump hires people who are very much like himself. Since the early 1980’s, Mr. Trump has been the subject of numerous personal and legal scandals (divorces, affairs, alleged ties to organized crime, several bankruptcies, real estate and business scams). My view then and now - he is a slick conman who has hired other con artists in his presidential campaign and in the Executive Branch as President. Mr. Manafort, Mr. Gates, and some fringe supporters like Mr. Stone all seem to reflect corruption and personal greed associated with shady business and dirty politics.
574
Manafort and Trump are what we used to call "operators". Fortunately, for our democracy and the astute FBI agents there is a chance that, at least, Manafort will end up behind bars and it will be a warning shot to the other swamp dwellers. He assumed he could get away with fraud forever. Humiliating him with the facts is only the beginning since he wanted to appear wealthy and now we know he is broke. I am afraid, however, that Trump will get away with selling us out to the Russians.
13
@Kathy White
The thief-in-chief is protected and insulated by many layers. His 'slickness' is a factor of the protection from a network of those in power positions: city hall, national political party, Roy Cohn legal threats/tactics, Daddy Trump tactics, mafia and thugs, print publishers, television propaganda programming, real estate schemes with Russia to launder money --- and that is just an intro. Most of his partners-in-crime are smarter than him and use him for their ends. He is a prop, used by his more nefarious partners. Is the network starting to unravel? Will the pretend president stand bare and totally exposed in front of the citizenry?
1
@Kathy White Mr Matis, Mr. Kelly all career military. How are they con artisits?
An honest day's work for an honest day's pay. My mother and father taught me that both by word and action. He was a quarryman, she cleaned other people's houses and took in ironing. I am not a wealthy man today but am comfortably retired. Work hard, treat people well, pay your taxes, scrupulously put money in a 401k, live within your means. That's all there is to it.
462
and dont get sick. Most bankruptcies are caused by medical emergencies and health issues, not 8 houses.
4
@Robert O.
It’s nice for you that for you that was all there was to it.
It is nice to hear some people aren’t struggling every day to make ends meet, and can live out their lives in comfort.
The sad thing is the bragging and the lack of compassion and consideration of others lives. Try to imagine that your life is not a possible blueprint for others. It is sad and hard to accept, that for many people, life is an endless struggle. Try to look at the diversity of experiences, and be humble.
4
@Robert O.
I believe greed is an addiction; lie, steel and cheat has been given a pass by the present GOP. What would Teddy Roosevelt think of today's GOP?
1
The whole trajectory of Mr. Manafort’s life — is a tale of greed, deception and ego.
The whole trajectory of Trump's life — is a tale of greed, deception and ego.
Manafort and Trump have a lot in common including financial mismanagement leading to multiple bankruptcies.
Both Manafort and Trump were in bed with the the Putin money crowd.
Paul Manafort - a known paid Russian operative just happened by chance to run Trump's campaign after he replaced the incompetent Corey Lewandowski. Just two months before the election, Trump's people said they were "Shocked, completely shocked to learn that Manafort worked for the Russians"....tell us another one.
Manafort and Trump have both led a life of fraud (remember Trump University?) and deception. Trump took advantage of Russian aid during his election bid and has the audacity to deny any wrongdoing after throwing his son under the bus for meeting the Russians in Trump Tower.
Trump is running scared and is even attacking Jeff Sessions as a coward for not pulling the plug on Mueller. How soon before Trump is standing on the stairs of his airplane waving goodbye for the last time? Not soon enough by any means.
788
@jefflz
"Trump's people said they were "Shocked, completely shocked to learn that Manafort worked for the Russians.."
Who said that? Provide a source, not just "Trump's people".
Trump pretended he barley knew him.
1
@LMJr
People that I have known for 'decades' fall into two categories: The ones that I associate with because I know who they really are; and the ones I no longer associate with because I know who they really are.
1
Obviously, the possible connections between Mr. Trump and the Russians which may (or may not) be demonstrated by Mr. Mueller's prosecution are the most interesting and salacious points in the trial, but what is equally fascinating is the fact that so many were duped and bamboozled by this shyster and his crony, Gates: Bankers who are supposed to manage and mitigate risk just shoveled money without regard for their due diligence... shame on the Chicago bank and its officers who were seduced by the tantalizing promise of access to power, possibly a cabinet post. Is that how easy it is to become a cabinet officer in the US these days? Float bad loans to bad actors and poof, voila you get the Department of the Army, or believe you can? So much for draining the swamp... but lets just keep deregulating the banks, because they have proven themselves to be so worthy of our trust.
622
@PMIGuy Pay the now inflated membership fees to Mar-A-Lago and get to run the VA without even being a member of the administration.
35
@PMIGuy: Nice try, but this is totally on Manafort, not Gates. Gates is no choir boy, but all he did was take advantage of his thieving boss. No honor among thieves, and in this case Manafort is by far the thief with the least honor.
1
@PMIGuy
I have enjoyed an excellent credit score for years, with 35 years of credit history to my name. When I applied at my credit union for a $10k loan for a used car, I was subjected to a credit check and had to supply 2 pay periods' worth of pay stubs, and agree that the loan payments would be deducted from my account automatically. No problem, fair enough, standard business practice. From my following of the Manafort trial and the revelations of his finances, I get the impression we are not all equal when requesting credit.
As you note above, full steam ahead with the deregulation of the banks, we the taxpayers can pick up the tab, again.
3
My father always told me that big money made in one generation usually isn't clean. Manafort and Cohen are proof of that. Bernie Madoff and his feeder fund con artists, too. But American society worships money.
51
Oh, but other societies don't worship money?
Give us a break.
1
@Jack: OK. And ........ Not everyone worships money. The end!
Indeed many do not, valuing family, security, and life satisfaction more fully.
4
Even if Manafort does fall, Trump will commute his sentence. So what's the moral of this story?
7
@Majortrout
That doesn't change the 'moral' -they are both immoral.
4
So Russia was successful in attacking the integrity of our electoral systems, through manipulating social media messages and hacking of servers. We will soon learn to what extent they were successful in filtering monies to the GOP through conduits such as the NRA. Why then would Putin stop. Would it not make sense to then fund a mole within the very center of power. This is how spies are made. Capitalize on their vulnerabilities such as financial failings. There is so much that we potentially do not know. Talk about the deep state!
42
The saga of Mr Manafort reflects the best and worst of America and opine the best of America.
The axiom of the US project is minimal intrusion by government into individual liberties.
The project began as an experiment I opine that has brought great results reflecting the Preamble to your Constitution:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
The people of the US will deal with minimal government intrusion offenders via courts.
The point in the preamble is predicated on the principle of the prerogative of the defence of the people.
Judicial intrusion is not government intrusion and such intervention complies with your constitution.
I would encourage the US reader to leave these matters although tacky, to the courts.
The US needs to get Trump off the front page and into court.
The world needs policies not tweets.
Three quick questions...
What is the Administrations view of the Caspian Sea agreement?
Is the Administration aware that Turkey a member of NATO engages with Russia directly re mutual sanctions?
Why are more NATO troops being sent to Afghanistan?
Are you focussed on international issues more or less than allegations of your own issues?
9
I will not repeat the amount of money this article has mentioned already. I just want to note that this country has people in prison because they cannot afford a nominal bail or they had/sold a few ounces of marijuana and Manafort (not to mention Trump) did all these slimy deals for millions.
Yet this country is a nation of "justice for all..."
Maybe throwing this con artist (and some others) in jail will help us to return to that ideal.
144
There is only one relevant question now, in Trump World: "Is it illegal." Moral, ethical, constitutional, irresponsible, counterproductive, kooky, is not in the Trump lexicon.
And with Manafort, he's blown right past "Is it illegal?" to "Can I get away with it?" Well, we all know the answer to that one.
In my lexicon the following words still exist: crook, swindler, prevaricator, flim-flam man, grifter, traitor.
56
I'm a little short right now, but I'm sending a few hundred dollars to his legal defense fund; it's the least I can do. My prescription medications are a bit pricey now that Obamacare is being rifled, but moving your swimming pool at one of your houses a few feet to get better shade, and $45,000 for cosmetic dentistry so you can have an affair with a trophy 'playboy model". make sense to me. MAGA
115
@Howard Clark
Please do a bit of homework on the price of drugs..It has literally nothing to do with Obamacare...Ironically, Trump has pushed hard to reduce the middle broker in the medication industry...this is the source of high drug pricing....you will be surprised after you do some diligence.
@Howard Clark
Makes sense to me too.
Unfortunately, I cannot contribute to Paulie’s defense fund . (Please don’t hate me – I had a choice. Pay my rent or gift that money to Paulie. Sorry Paulie but I don’t want to be homeless. Plus I love ostriches, OK?)
What I am going to do is push Congress to give more & bigger tax breaks to the 1%, you know, more tax cuts to Paulie & Donnie & their ilk. Why in the world should they have to pay a few hundred bucks more in taxes to help people in, say, West Virginia or Mississippi pay for their diabetic medications or their public schools? Paulie & Donnie work so hard embezzling & grifting & consorting with criminals that they deserve to keep every penny of their hard earned money. MAGA!
1
Ummmm, last I looked, he’s still on trial. I think I’m gonna wait ‘till he’s actually “fallen”, in the can, and isn’t about to be pardoned before I celebrate.
14
"He was attracted to displays of “opulence,” Mr. Stone said. “Manafort thought that if something was expensive, it meant it was good.”"
Nice people surrounding the president even if briefly. Enough time to do extensive PR damage to a campaign and administration not concerned with much true vetting.
I hope Manafort is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to rooting out the greedy and the fraudsters that seem to permeate Donald J. Trump everywhere he goes.
While voters get a look at Manafort's work, lifestyle, and downfall, we're bombarded by continued evidence of an administration founded on corruption and cruelty trying to hurt anyone who isn't white, Christian, and Republican.
121
You mean white, "Christian", and Republican. There's no way Jesus *wouldn't* flip their tables in appalled shock in what those cross-carrying NOT-Christians have become.
7
@ChristineMcM
I would add “ and rich “...
3
I wonder if the defense will continue in the vein of their opening gambit wherein they offered, "Paul Manafort travels in circles that most people would never know,” his lawyer, Mr. Zehnle, said. “He lived a lifestyle that most people can only dream of.”
Obscene wealth obtained in obscene ways is still wealth and there are many who admire that - even those, maybe especially those, who have very little themselves. After all, how many dream of striking it rich and living 'a lifestyle that most people can only dream of.'
But you better not get caught if you've come by your riches by nefarious means. No one likes a loser in that ethos and it looks like the prosecution is painting Manafort in exactly those those colors. Orange will be the new black in his next world.
23
@Memi von Gaza
I wonder if M's lawyers have vetted M for their fees? How hilarious if he stiffed them too.
Informative article. And how Shakespearean that Gates was stealing from him all along. What a bunch of nit wits. Shameful that Gates gets a pass.
Maybe this Manafort can get a cell next to Bernie Madoff.
I just love this paragraph: Mr. Manafort’s deceptions grew increasingly convoluted throughout 2016, prosecutors say, but the Trump campaign appears to have been oblivious to that. Like nearly everyone else hired by the campaign, Mr. Manafort was not vetted. The recommendation of Thomas J. Barrack Jr., a private equity investor who has been close to Mr. Trump for years, was enough. Also in his favor was Mr. Manafort’s offer to work at no charge, both because Mr. Trump is a notorious skinflint and because Mr. Manafort apparently thought Mr. Trump would be more likely to hire a man of seeming great wealth like himself.
42
@Pete So is Trump broke to? Who holds his loans?
5
@Pete
Totally agree! delicious! What a picture of two people who mirror and deserve each other...
4
@terri smith: That's not the 'take away" I get from Pete's comment, however, we really don't know if this president has one penny or billions. I'm betting he has "house of cards" wealth.
''A notice on the website for his legal defense fund read: “Paul and his family are reaching out to anyone who can assist him at this time.”Paul and his family are reaching out to anyone who can assist him at this time.''
He can best assist himself by coming clean. Trump can't pardon the state offenses and there may be enough there to keep him in prison for the rest of his life.
It's also possible that the Don's friends have spoken to him about his beautiful family and he has to go down silently.
29
Upon reading your title "Greed, Deception and Ego, I thought you were referring to Donald J. Trump. Still, Trump must have known that Manafort was a scurrilous thug seeking 'accommodation' by offering to manage his campaign, a campaign filled with incompetence and with Trump's clear intent to fool the public with his constant lies, insults and exaggerations, by hiring Manafort's expertise. They were made for each other...until Trump realized Manafort's liabilities. This story seems fit for a horror film, revealing two mafiosi that thought all along to be above the law. And now, finally, a little pesky detail: the law, and justice, are knocking at their door.
77
@manfred marcus
and so we hope for...
1
Greed deception and ego: sounds a lot like bill Clinton too, although he colors a bit more in the lines with the foundation’s enormous wealth, though maybe not entirely if some reports are to be believed. This is not a republican disease. Nor was capitalizing when the iron curtain fell and every banker and entrepreneur in the world was looking to cash a ticket on underdeveloped societies. Nor was leveraging one asset to stay ahead of other debt. Manafort is singular only for the thread that people hope will impeach the current president.
6
@Aubrey This obsession with the Clintons wears very thin. Enough already! Pointing the finger at others to defend your own crimes is not a good defense. Sure, the Clintons and others crossed the line - maybe many lines. But they are not sitting in jail. Why is that? There can be only two reasons: either they were too smart to get caught or too smart to cross one line too many. Either way - can we please move on!
60
@Aubrey Do you actually think that the Clintons' financial dealings haven't been investigated enough to determine if there was something they could be criminally charged with? These may well be the most investigated people in the history of this country. That has gone on for, literally decades, Ken Starr for however long, and who knows how many hired by GOP and even potential Democrat opponents digging, digging, digging.
Even a totally non-ideological journalist, if such a one exists would follow up anything interesting, because it would make their career to bring down Bill and Hillary. Are they saints? Of course not. But they don't belong in the breath, nay atmosphere as guys like Manafort, and DJT.
11
@Aubrey Yes, really, the obsession with the Clintons is tiresome, and apparently indicative of the fact that there are very few other non right wing examples to whinge about...
2
It is difficult to not imagine the lengths Manafort might have gone to in order to secure more Ukrainian and Russian funds once he was installed in the Trump campaign ...
Trump's formula of "appoint first, vet later" just never seems to work out well.
28
Apart from helping Ukranian oligarchs politically, the name Trump could be inserted in place of Manafort and the story would be basically unchanged. American banks won't do business with Trump so he gets loans from Russia. He inflates his income and cheats on his taxes so he doesn't release his returns. He's leveraged on everything, up to his eyeballs in debt. Greed, Deception and ego. Sound familiar?
95
Oh, you didn’t hear the REAL story? It was the evil Hillary who duped the New York banks into refusing to loan Donald money, forcing him to rely on foreign banks.
There’s a conspiracy explanation for everything and poor DJT is the world’s most victimized man.
2
Paul Manafort’s trial reveals the debt-fuelled consumerist patterns many Americans share, including Trump, whose business empire relies largely on Russian money to stay afloat. And the Trump brand allows him and his family to indulge in luxury and splendour, even though he’s a “notorious skinflint”.
Even when Manafort saw dwindling revenues after the fall of his Ukrainian client, President Viktor Yanukovych, he just couldn’t ditch his expensive habits. As a con artist, he knows how important it is to impress a narcissist like Trump who is obsessed with what people wear and how they look. He cheated his way to the top of the Trump campaign, offering to work for the then presidential candidate at no charge, hoping this would open the door to more financial opportunities.
Given his greed and contacts to Ukrainians linked to the Kremlin, he must know some of the clandestine activities inside the Trump campaign, even though he only worked there for five months.
22
What I find most disturbing about the contents of the Manafort story is that professions that should be "callings" rather than "business opportunities" attract the most greedy and most dishonest practitioners rather than the altruistic and selfless individuals who should be picked for these jobs. In politics we have the crooks , the care-for-none-but-oneself, the glib and oily smooth talker who can't be trusted to tell the right time of day. And these snake-oil salesmen who will "make everything better" are believed by so many people that they can get away with such deception for long periods of time. To anyone who is half-educated it should be obvious that you should not buy a used car or a bridge from people like Manafort or Trump or any of the swamp denizens surrounding Trump. Politics attracts unscrupulous characters because you can make an awful lot of money in politics. But why are they trusted? A combination of despair at a lack of earlier progress, widespread apathy, ignorance of the inner workings of politics, the government's ability to hide embarrassing information, the barrage of propaganda by politicians and blatantly dishonest media outlets, a sense that "all will be well if we let things roll without challenging God's will"--all combine to let the politicians in government
( a distant entity for most) continue their merry way, accruing unearned riches, and filling their own pockets. Will we wake up and hold the Manaforts responsible?
30
@shimr
a very important question, that could also be asked many more times, soon...
1
It's going to make a great movie. Richard Gere perhaps, as Manafort? Alec Baldwin as Trump, of course.
85
@Spucky50 In a recent LATimes interview with Jim Carrey, he happened to be watching TV stories about Manafort and said he would really love to play Manafort in a film. I can only imagine the fun Mr. Carrey would have walking the fine line between comedy and tragedy portraying Paul Manafort. Richard Dreyfus did a great job playing Bernie Madoff.
This is going to be a Hollywood classic.
4
@Spucky50
Richard Gere doesn't leave a slime trail.
Steven Seagal.
4
@Spucky50: Nah. It's not gonna make a great movie. If one is made it most certainly will be a hastily, haphazardly manufactured, poor imitation of what you and I are witnessing right before our eyes. We got the real thing, now. Why would I want to go see a film that is gonna try and encapsulate this (w)hole story in a few hours. Whelp, I gotta go visit Manafort in jail. I'm hoping for a 'selfie.'
The hubris of Manafort is familiar, his boss Trump, sara jeong, Scott Pruitt, Anthony Scaramuci, too many others in today’s anything goes environment and ego and bluster reign
29
spreading a stain that has touched the president’s innermost circle.
Come on. What hadn't been stained?
48
In the end, hubris may be the most expensive item that Manafort bought. But, unlike the other examples of excess, hubris often ends up costing far more than five houses, and all the ridiculous jackets you can hang up in the closets.
Hubris does not accept cash, checks, or credit when the bill comes due.
27
I know this is wrong. I know it's unfair. But. . . . .
. . .why do such things happen to Republicans?
I mean super-conservative Republicans. Like Mr. Jack Abramoff. And others.
Is it some kind of inner sense: the world around me--the political culture of my country. . . .
. . . all constitute one enormous PIE? And I'm pining for a SLICE of that pie. FIVE slices of that pie.
Actually, I want the whole PIE.
Isn't that the American way? Doesn't that exemplify CAPITALISM--in its purest form. Unspoiled, uncontaminated by. . . .by. . . .
. . pesky laws and regulations contrived by the godless Democrats. Who hate America. Plague take 'em!
(And I recall that T shirt I've seen pictures of. "I'd rather be a Russian than a Democrat." Lord have mercy!)
I know how unfair this is. I know VERY many rank and file Republicans who are men and women of probity. Honorable, disinterested American citizens.
Then I look at our President. . . . . .
That last plaintive message--all about ". . .reaching out to anyone who can assist him." That is, anyone who can HELP him.
A man that helped himself so liberally. Over many years.
I'm sorry. I do feel a slight TWINGE of pity for the man.
But only--VERY slight.
32
@Susan Fitzwater Republicans who were men and women of probity have left the party.
7
For someone who sold out his country and his soul for ostrich and snake skin jackets, maybe Georgetown Law is not what it cracks up to be
37
We need a new wise saying: If we owe a bank $10,000 if it is our problem. If Paul Manafort owes a bank $100 million it is his problem.
4
As a member of the era of the Georgetown University classes from which Mr. Manafort hails, I can empathize, sympathize and feel very badly for his plight. IF he is found guilty, one can only hope, and perhaps pray, that President Trump quickly pardons Mr. Manafort for any and all of his pardonable (alleged) offenses.
Many of us can identify with the era and ethic that Mr. Manafort in which was educated. The Jesuits are the most business-like and secular of the religious orders. Those of us who were fortunate enough to receive a Jesuit secondary education were very capable "con-men, con-artists" by the time of our graduation at the end of our Senior year of that secondary education.
90-some-odd-percent of my of secondary school Senior Class went to matriculate at Georgetown, and the skills, ethics, morals, etc., that we learned and were nurtured in secondary school were honed, sharpened, perfected while in University and no doubt in Law School.
We were educated and practiced at the art of getting ahead as part of pursuing "the American Way." It is all simply a part of studying and receiving a very good education in overcoming and beating the American System and your fellow Americans and fellow citizens of the world while at it.
We put our educations to use and to this day, we seek to get over, undermine, challenge and defeat an American system that subdues, humiliates, denigrates and robs all Americans at no matter what economic level.
9
@Reggie: Getting ahead was the only goal. Honesty never came up, I assume.
7
@Reggie
Excellent satire sir. Right up there with "A Modest Proposal".
9
@katherinekovach Thank you, Katherine. Indeed, getting ahead was the only goal. Winning wasn't everything, it was the only thing. Honesty never came up. The themes of life was and is what one could get away with. We were successful practitioners of the "five finger discount" at an early age.
Britain sent its ne're do wells to Australia. As a by-product some of them (and those from other nations) came to a fledgling "United States of America," and we have given birth to a domestic, home-grown stock in trade ever since. America is unique in its ability to raise those who seek to game and get over on a system which is inherently corrupt to begin with.
I began by attempting to steal batteries and was prescient in that regard. As we have seen, the battery-makers have inherited the earth. The primary power source/fuel cell of our hi-tek existence, in every aspect of our lives, is a battery of some sort. Life always goes back to basics and fundamentals. I wish Mr. Manafort only the best of success
Legal defense fund? Hilarious.
36
The article points out two of three of Donald's well known character traits, any or all of which could have been used by the Russians or anyone else to manipulate him: he's a skinflint with a superiority complex who doesn't vet the people and/or institutions with which he does business. Paul Manafort had his number in spades and I am sure many other bad actors do too.
I find it interesting that Tom Barrack is at the nexus of this decision and also Donald's unofficial ambassador to the Arab world, offering them reassurances about him.
Let's hope that Paul Manafort spends his final few decades watching his ostrich jackets and Persian rugs getting auctioned off to pay the IRS.
35
The Paul Mannafort sad saga proves that money cannot buy everything.It cannot buy judgment,morality,respectability and ultimately, happiness.For delusional narcissists it becomes their master and they do everything to achieve fame and fortune.There is a lot to be angry about- he cheated the government and banks and brought Russian oligarchs into our political system.His behavior is an insult to Americans.How is it that so many low life's with Russian friends became part of the Trump campaign?
47
A little early to be predicting a fall. No conviction. Isn’t he expecting a pardon for his silence. Trump who is incapable of shame will probably give him one. And of course he could be acquitted with the help of that sanctimonious judge.
10
@Nb
There's no conviction because the trial is not yet over.
And even if Trump does pardon him, the attorney general of the state of New York is ready to swing into action, and Trump has *no* authority over a state conviction.
19
@CalypsoSummer: There hasn't been a trial. Yet.
So Paul Manafort and Roger J. Stone were once business partners? Surely there were no conversations between the two of them about the goodies Guccifer 2.0 was dangling?
32
Interesting topic, but the article doesn’t even scratch the surface as to WHY there is such a political schism in the state. The Democratic Party dropped the working class like a hot potato 40 years ago—-I hope everyone has gotten that memo by now—- and places like Wisconsin have never recovered politically. It was however also primed to suffer badly from that, because it was the home turf of our country’s most famous socialist, Gene Debs and long a strong union state that did not adapt to challenges of globalization and service-ization of the economy, blamed on Democrats. Racism as expected has also been a powerful weapon, Milwaukee being as segregated as a city could be for example, in a very white state. Zero mention of the very powerful Bradley family’s radical libertarian political activism, analogous to the DeVos’ in Michigan and their tightness with the Koch family, and their heavy backing of Johnson and Walker.
9
@A Prof
Wisconsin is suffering badly because the Koch brothers decided they were going to dabble in politics. The Kochs already finance a number of groups with names like "Americans for Prosperity" and "Freedom Partners" that do a lot of lobbying and general noise-making, but the Koch brothers decided they'd stick their fingers directly into the situation.
The Kochs financed Scott Walker, and they financed his defense against the recall. ($34 million vs $1.8 million -- guess who won?) Walker knows which side his bread is buttered on, and his first move was to gut the unions in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin had a rural Republican/urban Democrat split for as long as I remember, and as the rural Republicans get older, and spend more and more time watching Fox, their opinions become more and more outlandish. With Walker as governor and a GOP-heavy legislature, the laws/regulations passed have become less and less fair and registering/voting has been more and more obstructed.
22
Let's not forget that were Mr. Manafort less compulsive about spending and extravagance, were he the same guy without the behaviors that ended up tripping the alarms of a legal system that favors the rich, he'd just be doing his job, facilitating the election of killers in other countries and corrupt officials in this one. He'd be "a success."
74
I question as to whether or not Manafort worked for the trump campaign free gratis. I would not be surprised to learn that he was bankrolled by someone within the sphere of Putin's cabal. I guess one would never know by reviewing his tax returns.
18
Alternatively, Manafort was all the time a money launderer for Putin. The money was never intended for him and went where it was intended to accomplish Putin's goals. So he lived on the foam. The money needs to be followed, not Manafort's diversions.
11
Don’t expect Manafort to roll on Trump. The Russian nerve agent attack on a turncoat ex-KGB operative sent an unmistakeable message. Mr Gates will spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder. And that is why Mr Trump is so terrified of Putin. These people all deserve what they get.
128
I don't think that Manafort can be charged with corruption, tax evasion, and lying to the government, while the Trump and his administration say, "Oh my, we had no idea." In no other field of endeavour can one do business with criminals and commit crimes, and then plead innocence. You are known by the company you keep, and we all know the company Trump keeps. Time for Republicans to go.
76
So this is what "draining the swamp" looks like. People like this who worship money can NEVER have enough. It will be the end of us. So much winning...
24
Manafort is a pretty savvy swindler. He held out the possibility of a Trump administration high ranking job to an unethical banker who conned his mostly military customer base into lending him 1.5 million to bribe Manafort. Once Manafort had the loan he new that the banker could never ask for repayment since he couldn't allow the public to know what he had done. It was now free money for Manafort and the bank would have to keep extending the loan in perpetuity. Even if Manafort had set himself on an even keel financially that money was never going back to the bank.
9
I laughed out loud when I read that he has a website for his legal defense fund. The greed is strong in this one.
76
@RJR And what fools would contribute to it? The than Trump and his cronies, hoping desperately that he won't inform on them.
“His trial also underscores questions about how someone in such deep financial trouble rose to the top of the Trump campaign, spreading a stain that has touched the president’s innermost circle”
And the answers are?... Ukraine, Putin and the money he received to subvert democracy there. Trumps innermost chicle thrives and relies on cheating. Playing fair, counting votes fairly, is for the weak. In their brave new world it’s the duty of those with the boots, to kick the weak to the curb. Democracy? Bah! Humbug!
25
"Greed, deception and ego": the description of the current administration. They rose. At the end they will all fall.
56
“ The point is that you can't be too greedy.”
page 48, Donald Trump, The Art of the Sociopath
Manafort and Trump are close criminal cousins, both devoid of any ethics, sense of right and wrong corrupt to their core.
A federal prison is the best place for both of these miscreants.
November 6 2018
537
"The whole trajectory of Mr. Manafort’s life...is a tale of greed, deception and ego." Oh, you mean he's a republican?
368
Wealth and power are like narcotics, once you get a taste of it, you crave it more and more at any cost and cross all lines to keep the addiction going. Trump and his family have this decease. The damage these people do to society is huge, taking away resource from people who need just to survive.
76
When the oligarchs took over Russia twenty years ago the crony capitalists, the denizens of Davos, the Swiss Bankers and the rest of what Chrystia Freeland Canada's Minister of Global Affairs called the Global Super-Rich applauded. In 2000 Freeland published The Sale of the Century the sale of Russia's assets to the now Russian members of the Global Super-Rich.
In working for Viktor Yanukovych Russia's choice for President of Ukraine a stark lookalike of Manafort's Manafort was sure he was backing America's and Russia's pick to sell the Ukraine to the Highest bidders.
In 2014 Freeland published a book that echoes this op-eds title. Plutocrats: The Rise of the Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else.
Today Viktor Yanukovych lives freely in Russia protected by Russia charged by Ukraine with treason. Manafort has done nothing to injure his American friends and patrons he belongs in Kiev where Ukrainians understand what he did and why he did it.
Why is Manafort charged with US tax evasion when the people of Ukraine paid his salary and Kiev is where he worked ? Isn't Ukraine the place the taxes should be paid? Kiev is a beautiful friendly city and I suspect they have the right accommodations for a man of Manafort's exquisite tastes.
7
@Memphrie et Moi - not the way US tax laws work. IF he didn't want to be taxed as a US citizen, he should've renounced his citizenship. But you can't hold a US passport and say that you don't want to pay US taxes - I don't get that. I don't support many things society/government does with our collective tax money but I feel what I get is either fair or more than what I pay for, so I'm satisfied.
20
@RamS Well said. I wish the US would extradite Manafort to Ukraine, where he could stand trial for his financial crimes against the Ukrainian people.
2
An undeserving 1%'er finally gets his due. Hopefully, many more like him will come to the same fate.
89
Paul Manaford: Greed, Deception and Ego but most importantly and left unstated working for Candidate Trump’s election.
25
As David Stockman has pointed out, it was the Ronald Reagan's sunny fact-free disposition and the Reagan GOP's abandonment of what had long been a bedrock GOP policy -- good fiscal policy -- that set the stage for so much of what has subsequently transpired in American politics. Manafort like Mr. Trump are different elements of Reaganism's poisonous legacy. The rise of this new GOP grew out of the nastiness of the Gingrich approach -- as well as Fox News. How fitting that just as Paul Manafort represents the seedy side of GOP crony capitalism & corruption, the philandering Newt Gingrich's wife is now the United States Ambassador to the Holy See. Both men are apt representatives of today's GOP.
184
Thanks for making the important distinction between when the GOP changed its policy approach and when it changed its governance style.
Reagan’s “approachable” personality and generally positive public presentation masked the beginning of actions that no longer truly reflected conservatism. Also, I think post WWII Americans, despite Nixon, basically believed in the government or least were not overtly suspicious of its motives.
Gingrich and the early 1990s brought about the combative, obstructionist style that changed the national political discourse that was honed to “perfection” by the Tea Party, Mitch McConnell’s boast to make Obama a one term president, and today’s Freedom Caucus.
Trump, Ross, Pruitt, and Manafort are just the human embodiment of the decline the ethics and morals in America’s leadership and the blatant disconnect between our citizens and those acting as, or on behalf of, our “government.” We can only hope we retain enough integrity to prevent our children from believing that this is the natural and accepted way of things in this country.
39
@Andrew S.E. Erickson
Very well said. Saint to the right, Reagan almost singlehandedly destroyed America by selling gullible Americans that government is bad, greed is good, and nostalgia for old white fantasy US is great.
1
The trial of Paul Manafort is the real deal -- not a "rigged Witch Hunt!" or a hoax. Manafort, a man of infinite greed, deception, fraud, the allure of very big money stashed in faraway places, a man of low character, never believed the rules applied to him. Greed and big power were good to him till he fell, as he is falling now -- witnessed by us all with schadenfreude. Mr. Manafort is receiving his just desserts in an Alexandria, VA, courtroom.
In league with oligarchs (and Manager of Donald Trump's campaign for the presidency from March thru June, 2016), Manafort's extravagant whims became his reality and our horror. Doubt that we Americans could be more sickened than we are by the unrolling of Manafort's awful carpet to power and money. Then again, Donald Trump's mantra of greed is good, so make American great again! may sicken us more than Manafort's reach for power if our president's nefarious activities while in our White House are brought to light. While Paul Manafort is in the slammer now, the chutzpah of his legal defense fund's website is gobsmacking. They're asking for moolah. Fat chance!
47
Hi, Nan,
You make great points, all.
Oh, one minor thing:
The actual phrase is, surprisingly, “just deserts.”
It comes from the Old French verb “deservir,” meaning “to deserve.”
Life sure is strange.
Welcome to the Russian-Republican swamp.
“ only the best low-lifes....”
November 6 2018
109
@Socrates
Only the best low-lifes get to wear python and ostrich-hide jackets.
3
Why is it a person of obvious intelligence succumbs to chicanery and deviousness as a lifestyle when they have an abundance of talent that would insure a successful life for most anyone else? Is it unbridled ambition aligned to avarice, greed and hubris? Is it an overweening sense of self that infects and blinds them, and so sets them on a course to ruination?
Whatever it is it's a disease isn't it? One that I do not suffer, and as a consequence find revolting. But it is one those who run for power seem susceptible to; and it does seem one that is running like a plague through the ranks of the current administration. It's a disease for which the only cure is litigation since a characteristic of it is the complete destruction of the persons moral compass.
So it goes..
John~
American Net'Ze
20
Says the Stable Genius POTUS: "I have only the best working for me." Indeed!
56
@May
Obviously he meant the “best” grifters, thieves and scoundrels - and Trump is the number one grifter, thief and scoundrel.
3
I'd like a lawyer to clarify whether or not Manafort can be pardoned by Trump for all the charges against him. I read somewhere that a presidential pardon can be only for federal charges (?). If so, does this mean Manafort could be tried if charges are brought in civil court and Trump could do nothing?
8
@Paducah
Federal crimes may be pardoned.
No pardon power in an individual state.
5
@Paducah
The President can pardon federal crimes, he’s the head of the federal government. He has no pardon power over state crimes, I’m not sure about civil.
The important thing is to have Manafort found guilty - the case looks strong. I don’t know if Trump could withstand a Manafort pardon. Of course he thinks he could shoot someone on 5th Ave and not lose his supporters. He might be correct about many of them but, I believe, most Americans are smarter.
7
I hate greed, Republicans, Trump, the Koch brothers, the Heritage Foundation, Stephen Bannon, well, you get the point. But, strangely, I feel sorry for Paul Manafort.
Mr. Manafort was really just playing by very separate rules for the wealthy in the U.S.A. What really happened is the spigot went dry. HIs biggest mistake was thinking that the gravy train had no end. Many have made the same mistake. Maybe not with numbers as grandiose and maybe not with such notoriety but the same mistake nonetheless.
Paul Manafort was in a very public position by necessity. It was part and parcel of his stock in trade. But for his need and greed he may never have been involved with the Trump campaign and but for that involvement, he might still be conning his way through the financial world, a world filled with Paul Manaforts.
Strangely, I feel sorry for him. I don't forgive, I understand the why and the only wherefore that matters anymore is whether he has the goods on Trump. Because if he does, you better believe he is trying to trade them for value.
19
I have lived on 8,000 dollars in one year, and was extraordinarily happy. I was a wilderness guide, slept in a tent and lived to bring other people on joyful, memorable adventures.
I earn a great deal more, now, and I’m still happy, but it isn’t the money that makes me so.
$60 million dollars. Shouldn’t that be enough for one person to be more than comfortable for the rest of their lives?
If I had $60 million dollars, I would be okay. In fact, I’d feel obligated to use about half of that to establish scholarships in struggling communities.
A portion of $60 million dollars could buy a lot of fishing poles for people who have never even tasted fish.
All of these people who are consumed by material possessions and wealth are the real deplorable folks on this planet.
The irony will be when Manafort has to trim down his material possessions to what will fit in his cell.
Do they make ostrich skin prison jump suits?
Asking for a friend.
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@El Jamon
I guess he's not a "good christian," or, maybe he is.
Very well said. People who know that "when you have what you need, you have enough" can be happy (barring disasters). People like Manafort, and Trump, never have enough, are always clawing after the next big score, the next impressive display; they can never be happy. Sad.
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It would be wise for us to understand that yes, all of these people are obsessed with wealth and power-what we fail to accept is that this is their SPORT-
they cant stop once they start. Highly competitive, deceptive, agile, willing to sell their souls (?)--these are the skills of this professional sport. Try to think of it that way-when LeBron makes 100M, he keeps playing right? there is more to it than that. But Im certain these guys wont be opening and schools for underprivileged kids soon. The game to them IS
getting around the system; if they could do it all
legitimately, it would bore them.
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Excellent article. More than the rise of his talent, it is a story of unquenchable greed so voracious, it blocked all ethical sense. He is the ultimate swamp creature.
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To borrow a term used by the president the other day, "lowlife" is a pretty good description for many, if not all, the people who have worked, do work, or will work in this administration! Manafort is one of the extraordinary ones, eh!
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This is Trump's America. Sad.
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Corrupt people share one trait: They are brilliant, but when greed takes over, they become brilliantly stupid. So greed is the trait these people share. Mr. Trump is the master of all. He managed to get elected, yet his greed is destroying the country while watch in dispair.
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@ignacio sanabria Actually, most corrupt people are pretty stupid.
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The prosecution case against Paul Manafort is too good.
He comes across as nothing more than a money-hungry, unethical clown.
The Manafort II trial may provide a clearer nexus between Manafort and Russians close to Vladimir Putin. The connection will need to have led either to the recruitment of Donald Trump or to Putin’s re-activation of past events which made the recruitment easier.
Those past events may have been personal behavior by Donald Trump, such as sexual encounters, or financial bailouts of Trump with Russian money. The latter would be more damaging to Trump.
Even with two Manafort trials, it may take more. That is why the Trump lawyers are delaying things by pretending that allowing Donald Trump to be interviewed by Team Mueller is actually being considered.
In the meantime, the Trump lawyers are going on TV regularly to poison the national pool of jurors.
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DJT hears footsteps and is now desperate to end S.C. Mueller’s investigation. Reading how Manafort built relationships with nefarious strongmen and lead DJT’s campaign, pieces to the puzzle are beginning to fall into place.
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@PegmVA
The pieces are falling into place, but they need to get there sufficiently before the first Tuesday in November to produce change in the House and Senate.
If that hasn’t happened, Donald Trump will be emboldened to seek – in a two-step maneuver – the removal of Rod Rosenstein and then Robert Mueller.
That is why an all-out fight about Judge Brett Kavanaugh is needed, either to delay his confirmation until after Election Day or to extract on-the-record promises from Republicans to the voters that Mueller will be protected to finish his work.
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This is a fabulous article, bringing Manafort to life. But in the long run, the only thing that matters about Manafort is whether or not he can put Trump and the Russians in bed together. That hasn't come out in the trial and it may be irrelevant to Manfort's shenanigans. But eventually Mueller is going to ask Manafort to cooperate against Trump and the answer to that is whast it's all about.
Manafort's sordid history is actually harmful to Mueller. The more despicable he is, the less believable he is.
Most importat, from a historical perspective, Manafort's trial and his life story will be a footnote to Trump's. This trial is an interesting prelude. But, from a historical perspective it's all about whetheror not Manafort sings.
So let's get on with it.
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Yes Rudy, divert attention from how Putin's money was actually deployed.
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Did he work "unpaid" for the Trump campaign.He received unrepaid "loans" from questionable characters who were or had close relations with an assortment of what we refer to as "oligarchs". Some of those "oligarchs" had relationships with people in the Trump campaign. Should some of those "loans" be viewed as personal payments made in an untaxable form for services to the Trump campaign arranged through a series of winks and nods. It does not appear that anyone made any moves to repay the loans and if you ask the lenders they can always say "Yes, that so and so is a filthy deadbeat." Can anything be proved? I very much doubt it. Everything can be safely denied without some surprise tape recording.
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Wow, what tangled web; All that glitters is not gold;
My father always said: as soon as we hear how the rich became rich, we prefer to remain poor.
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@May
well put, indeed very very well said !
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@May F. Scott Fitzgerald said, “Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.“ To which I say, “thank god”.
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"He and two colleagues from his days with the Young Republicans and the Reagan campaign created two linked consulting firms that broke the mold in Washington, achieving legendary success. Shrewd and aggressive, Mr. Manafort, Charlie Black and Roger J. Stone helped elect politicians, then scored contracts to lobby those same politicians on behalf of businesses and foreign interests."
Pretty succinct operational definition of the swamp...
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So it has now been proven that this supposedly fabulously wealthy mans of boundless means is actually tremendously in debt, his companies are skeletons of the success he so carefully portrays to the public, he is a cheating con artist and a pathological liar, his narcissism and greed drive his every move, and he is compromised on all sides by foreign adversaries, mistresses, banks, and scorned business associates.
Sound familiar?
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@Solaris
You miss the whole point. If Manafort is a pathological liar, then whatever he has to say about Trump is useless. You have just thrown out the baby with the bath water.
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@michjas
Don't forget, though a Times commenter may characterize Paul Manafort as a "pathological liar", he was considered significant, serious and powerful enough to run a national presidential campaign. He didn't get all that money by appearing to be a grifter or con man, he got it because he does not appear to be that at all. He could have tremendous sway over a jury. Don't count him out as a witness just yet.
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@Solaris Bingo.
A very good article - I would be very surprised if there is no jail time.
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Why am I not surprised? Becase Manafort was appointed by a dishonest person. And I think that we can assume that all of the others in Trump's administration are dishonest too. Mr. Gates shows us that there is no honor among theives.
God bless America. I needs it.
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If I were serving on that jury right now, I would be strongly considering finding Manafort innocent by reason of insanity.
How else explain the life, doings and enormous greed of men like him and Trump who devote the bulk of their adult lives to lying about their business activities, cheating on their taxes, conniving with foreign governments -- and in Trump’s case -- to cheating on his wives?
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Manafort also cheated on his wife. That is where some of the $ 60 million went.
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@James Lochrie
I didn't know this, but I am not surprised.
Every indication appears to be that Paul Manafort and Rick Gates are fairly classical white-collar slimeballs, chiselers on a moderately large scale. If the charges can be proven against them, then I have no sympathy for the OTHER kind of pinstripes they’ll be forced to wear for years (although Mueller may have cut a deal with Gates and Trump may have cut a deal with Manafort – not sure how I feel about which could be the less honorable).
What puts a crimp in my quoits game is that these are the kinds of cases that wouldn’t rise to anywhere near the top of federal district attorney Rudy Giuliani’s list of white-collar targets 35-40 years ago in New York (or even today), yet we’re inundated nationally by them and they rate write-ups by some of the NYT’s grittiest reporters – day in, day out. Their staying-power as icons of “greed, deception and ego” persists merely as an en passant attack on Trump. You have to wonder whether the Teapot Dome scandals that swirled around Warren G. Harding co-opted so much real-estate and ink, distracting him from legitimate White House business with his own blue dresses and brandy-flavored cigars.
In the context of how MUCH corruption of this sort goes on in America, and certainly not JUST in New York and Washington, Manafort and Gates represent the most infinitesimal fraction; yet they’re the ones getting the attention. Because they worked for Trump, even briefly.
If I were Manafort, I’d have my shysters make two arguments: …
5
… 1) he’s being singled out for such prosecutorial attention based on a crime of association – with Trump (even such BRIEF association, when his crimes were committed over YEARS), who is universally targeted by the liberal MSM -- and that’s unconstitutional; and 2) similar to the speeder who is pulled over by a trooper when everyone else on the highway was going the same speed, such attention is both unfair and unlawful simply because the guy tagged had out-of-state plates.
You want to go after Trump? So go after Trump, and I’ll stay active here trying to offer context and balance. Manafort and Gates? It’s not worth the effort, except as a violated sense of basic fairness, even of fairly classical white-collar slimeballs.
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@Richard Luettgen
So your solution is to ignore all criminals (alleged criminals, if you insist) if they have ties to Trump? An odd way of achieving justice, I must say. Mueller’s charge included prosecutions such as these. The greed and reprehensible nature of these two merits prosecution and, at a minimum, indicates the kind of people that Trump has no problem associating with. Pick up a few more rocks and you’ll find a lot more like them I bet.
“Go after Trump” is fine, but there will likely be people like you arguing that sitting presidents cannot be indicted or even be forced to testify. And will you also defend Trump pardoning Manafort because he was singled out?
In short, I find your argument lacking merit.
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@Richard Luettgen If your point is that Trump himself is corrupt on a scale that makes Manafort look like a piker, fully agree.
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He lived as it is taught in this country. To be all you could be by becoming an egotist.
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"Paul never believed that the rules applied to him."
Who else does that sound like?
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Please go to the White House gift shop and pre-order the commemorative coin that says "Genius Makes Its Own Rules." this is not a joke and should make every American sick to one's stomach.
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@Alan R Brock
Most modern Republicans.
2
I'll bet the story of 'the Donald' will be even more searing.
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@malflynn
Most probably right...
2
There will be another, far bigger "Rise & Fall" story told before this sorry chapter in our Nation's political history is wrapped... Wait for it...
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Mr. Manafort's long criminal career is impressive and nicely documented here. Still, to suggest that Manafort has spread "a stain that has touched the president’s innermost circle" implies that Trump and his cronies are somehow ethically different than Manafort.
Corruption has been the fabric of Trump's life for decades. Any "stain" from Manafort blends right in.
1003
No, they're correct. "covfefe" is not our president, but thanks to Money-Starved Manafort, he gets to stain even whoever hasn't yet been fired from former actual president Obama's administration—or in the case of Dr. Ronny, reveal the true corruption that hid within.
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@LT A tapestry of transgressions. Let's cloister them in the big house.
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@LT excellent point.... 19th century insults with a polite smile do not work in this "gloves off" environment NYT's
1
He always was fond of big houses , he should be overjoyed right now , his chances of living in a really big house for the rest of his life are looking pretty good .
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@Norm Thanks for the first laugh of the day. Very witty.
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A well-researched article that makes me want to get up and go wash my hands.
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@Mr. Beanbag I need a shower.
1
What about all the fake passports he was found to have. Nothing said about this recently. This should be a crime in and of itself, and who fabricated these? Was it his Russian friends? Why isn't this being pursued, as this is a way in for terrorists. Otherwise cannot wait until he is found guilty and in jail, where this traitor belongs. Who is next? Let's see.
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@JHM he has a second prosecution fir other crimes after this one. Wait for it.
7