(1 of 3) This report from a week ago, suggesting rising tensions between Manafort and Mueller's team, has caused many to speculate that Mueller wanted info on Manafort's old business partner—Stone—from Manafort, and wasn't getting it. Color me skeptical. abcnews.go.com/Politics/tensi…
(2 of 3) While Roger Stone *did* help Manafort become Trump's campaign manager by staging a whisper campaign against Corey Lewandowski, he also stayed in touch with Trump after his—Stone's—"firing" from the campaign, so he didn't really need Manafort as an intermediary to Trump.
(3 of 3) Mueller has interviewed 12+ Stone associates who were in touch with Stone while he was in touch with both WikiLeaks and Trump in October 2016. So I don't see how Manafort is some kind of missing link here. I suspect Manafort is instead being used to get to someone else.
(PS) With that in mind, I think Roger Stone (and possibly Trump Jr., Jerome Corsi, and Randy Credico) will be indicted very soon. Meanwhile, Mueller will continue working on Manafort, who (a) is probably the person Trump says was "threatened" by Mueller, and (b) can *bury* Trump.
(PS2) We know Manafort can bury Trump because Trump implied as much to multiple friends by telephone in January '18, per an NBC News report. And we know Trump was (Giuliani implies, improbably, still *is*) in a defense agreement with Manafort. So Trump's tweet on "threatening"...
(PS3) ...was likely a freakout prompted by learning from someone in Manafort's camp that Mueller is "threatening" to increase Manafort's prison sentence if he doesn't tell the truth about everything Trump did. This would also explain Trump's more-deranged-than-usual mood. /end
(PS4) My reply to a query on the Manafort filing today: "People are speculating too much. Mueller/Manafort are in intense cooperation talks; Manafort is being variably cooperative; he's close to giving up someone above him; they need more time to talk. Not sure we can say more."
(PS5) So the person Manafort is being squeezed to help Mueller pinch is likely not Stone. It's more likely to be one of the other men at the June '16 Trump Tower meeting, particularly, I'd say, Trump Jr. (There are persistent rumors that Jared Kushner is helping Mueller already.)
