Locked him up

Manafort is behind bars.

Paul Manafort, formerly Donald Trump’s campaign chairman, was taken into custody on Friday after a federal judge determined he had violated the terms of his bail as he awaits trial on multiple federal felony charges.

[...]

A lawyer for Manafort said the court could be clearer on on the nature of contact Manafort was permitted to have with potential witnesses.

  The Guardian

The witnesses claimed Manafort directly asked them to lie for him. Did he imagine that was permitted?  A CNBC report says Manafort's lawyer argued that Manafort hadn't been warned by prosecutors that the people he was contacting were witnesses.  That's a good one.  Why would he need them to lie for him if he didn't think they'd be witnesses?


Hey, who doesn't do that?  It's quite innocent.

Manafort, 69, who faces charges of alleged money laundering, tax fraud, failure to register as a foreign agent and obstruction of justice, faces a prison sentence of up to 20 years on the charges he faces in the District of Columbia. He also faces up to 270 years in prison on charges in district court in Virginia, meaning he could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted.

[...]

Trump attempted to distance himself from Manafort in an interview at the White House earlier, falsely claiming that “Manafort had nothing to do with our campaign.” In fact Manafort ran the campaign for five months and continued to advise Trump through the presidential transition.

Jesus, the man will say ANYthing.

In late July 2017, agents conducted a pre-dawn raid on [Manafort's] home in Virginia, seizing computers and documents.

After the raid, Trump admitted that he knew the man who had run his presidential campaign during a crucial stage of the nominating process.

“I know Mr Manafort – I haven’t spoken to him in a long time, but I know him,” Trump said. “He was with the campaign, as you know, for a very short period of time, relatively short period of time. But I’ve always known him to be a good man.”

Trump actually spoke to reporters this morning. Sure, he lied.

Trump offered a series of claims, several of them misleading and designed to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

He said the Justice Department’s inspector general (IG) report had cleared his name, even though that was not one of its conclusions or purposes.

“I think that the report yesterday, maybe more importantly than anything, it totally exonerates me,” Trump told the group of reporters.

[...]

On immigration, Trump blamed Democrats for the separation of children from their parents at the border, even though it is his own administration’s policy to split up the families when people are apprehended making illegal crossings.

“I hate it,” Trump said. “That’s the Democrat’s law and we can change it tonight. We can change it right now.”

The separations are the result of a May 7 announcement by Attorney General Jeff Sessions of a “zero-tolerance policy” for people who cross the southern border, not a specific law passed by Democrats.

[...]

Trump also said Friday that he would not sign a compromise immigration bill drafted by House Republicans that would end the family separation policy. The president said the bill does not contain strong enough border security provisions.

[...]

Trump boasted about his summit with Kim, claiming that he “solved” the problem of North Korea’s nuclear weapons even though he left the summit without an ironclad nuclear deal.

[...]

The president also made more news on the home front, telling reporters that his longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen “is not my lawyer anymore.”

“I haven't spoken to Michael in a long time,” Trump said, while noting he feels bad for him.

  The Hill

President Donald Trump, while speaking to reporters outside the White House on Friday morning, was asked about Manafort.

"Manafort has nothing to do with our campaign," Trump said. "I feel a little badly about it."

"You know, Paul Manafort worked for me for a very short period of time. He worked for Ronald Reagan. He worked for Bob Dole. He worked for many other he worked for me, what, 49 days or something. Very short period of time."

In fact, Manafort served 144 days as Trump's presidential campaign chairman. He was hired in late March 2016, and resigned on Aug. 19 of that year.

  CNBC

I don't suppose anyone called him out on that particular lie when he said it. Or any of the other many lies he told.

Manafort has two trials coming up: in Virginia, late next month, and in DC in September. Unless His Lardship pardons him before then. In which case, I assume Manafort would then take the opportunity to skip the country to avoid being called to testify in anyone else's trial.

Trump was asked about the legal developments this morning, and true to form, the president acted as if he barely knew Manafort, telling reporters:

“Manafort has nothing to do with our campaign. I’ll tell you, I feel a little badly about it. They went back 12 years to get things that he did 12 years ago?

“You know, Paul Manafort worked for me for a very short period of time…. He worked for me, what, for 49 days or something? A very short period of time.”

Asked about possible pardons, Trump added, “I don’t want to talk about that. But look, I do want to see people treated fairly. That’s what it’s all about.”

It was March 2017 when the White House first tried to dismiss Manafort as someone “who played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time.” Fifteen months later, Trump has taken this line in a direction that would be hilarious if this weren’t so serious.

  MSNBC

But that doesn't mean he's not delusional.  All narcissists are delusional. 

Also, can we now stop arguing that obstruction of justice would be difficult to prove because you need to prove intention/consciousness of guilt?

Nixon's problem was he didn't have the current GOP in Congress at the time.