You Will Anyway: Manafort Ordered to Testify

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Manafort Ordered to Testify

The Senate judiciary committee has issued a subpoena to Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign manager, seeking his testimony at a public hearing on Wednesday.

The Republican senator Chuck Grassley and the Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein said they were unable to reach an agreement with Manafort for a voluntary transcribed interview with the committee.

Guardian

Now, I don't know the ins and outs - barely the obvious points - of these hearings, but if Paul Manafort won't make a deal for a written and voluntary interview, then it seems to me like he's wanting to have something under oath. (I don't know what the Committee is asking for in the deal, of course.) And Manafort is willing to have a public hearing vs. a voluntary private interview and written testimony? I think I might be worried if I were the current Trump team.

A spokesman for Manafort said he met with staff of the Senate intelligence committee on Tuesday. The committee is looking into any possible collusion between Russia and Trump associates.

Spokesman Jason Maloni said Manafort “answered their questions fully”.

And yet the Judiciary Committee is having to issue a subpoena? What's going on?

Even more confusing: Jake Tapper, just a couple of days ago, said that the Judiciary Committee had struck a deal with both Junior and Manafort to testify behind closed doors.

So, until that gets cleared up for me, check out the Tapper clip where he's interviewing Al Franken. It's full of tidbits, including that Franken, who is a member of the Judiciary Committee, doesn't like Kushner's deal to testify behind closed doors with no oath. He wants Kushner under oath.

Kushner spoke privately on Monday with Senate intelligence committee investigators.

[...]

Kushner is returning to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for a second day of private meetings with congressional investigators investigating Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election. He is slated to have a closed-door meeting with lawmakers on the House intelligence committee on Tuesday.

Guardian

Everybody gets a crack at him. I'm assuming everybody is going to get a crack at Junior, too, and he will be in trouble, because he's not smart enough to know what to say. Perhaps he'll have an attorney by his side who forbids him to say anything.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 8:30pm: He changed his mind. He's taking his chances.

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Life, as Explained in "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead"

GUILDENSTERN: What a fine persecution---to be kept intrigued without ever quite being enlightened.

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ROSENCRANTZ : The only thing that makes it bearable is the irrational belief that somebody interesting will come on in a minute.

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GUILDENSTERN: But for God's sake what are we supposed to do?!

PLAYER: Relax. Respond. That's what people do. You can't go through life questioning your situation at every turn.

GUILDENSTERN: But we don't know what's going on, or what to do with ourselves. We don't know how to act.

PLAYER: Act natural. You know why you're here at least.

GUILDENSTERN: We only know what we're told, and that's little enough. And for all we know it isn't even true.

PLAYER: For all anyone knows, nothing is. Everything has to be taken on trust; truth is only that which is taken to be true. It's the currency of living. There may be nothing behind it, but it doesn't make any difference so long as it is honoured. One acts on assumptions.

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GUILDENSTERN : We act on scraps of information... sifting half-remembered directions that we can hardly separate from instinct.

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PLAYER: Life is a gamble, at terrible odds-if it was a bet you wouldn't take it.