Lots of insights in this article.
1) Mueller doesn't need to issue a "report" (which means we don't have to worry about Whitaker blocking or burying it). Mueller issues incredibly detailed indictments, which are available to the public.
emptywheel.net/2018/11/26/man…
1) Mueller doesn't need to issue a "report" (which means we don't have to worry about Whitaker blocking or burying it). Mueller issues incredibly detailed indictments, which are available to the public.
emptywheel.net/2018/11/26/man…
2) Mueller revealed he knew Manafort has been lying to him--but only AFTER Trump gave Mueller his written answers to questions. Mueller likely knew Manafort ha been secretly feeding information to Trump, and they've been coordinating their lies. Which means...
3) Mueller knows--and can prove--that Trump is lying in his written responses. This proof will be part of Mueller's "report"--and that "report" will take the form of laying out Manafort's (and Trump's) lies in the sentencing memo he's about to submit to the Manafort's judge.
4) Those lies are likely all about the conspiracy with Russia to get Trump elected, in which Manafort was deeply involved, and which isn't yet addressed in the charges to which Manafort has already pleaded guilty. We already have lots of information on that....
5) Mueller has already indicted dozens of Russians for their parts in the conspiracy (Mueller issues indictments, not reports), and those massively detailed and documented indictments lay out chapter and verse of how data was stolen and selectively released. Furthermore...
6) As part of the original Manafort indictment, Mueller laid out how Manafort assisted in destroying and imprisoning a Ukrainian female politician on fake charges--in ways that sound a lot like what TrumPutin did to Hillary Clinton.
emptywheel.net/2018/09/15/pau…
emptywheel.net/2018/09/15/pau…
7) That description of Manafort's efforts as regards Yulia Tymoshenko was part of Manafort's indictment, even though Manafort wasn't charged with any crimes in connection with it. Why was it there? To lay out the technique Manafort and Trump used against Clinton.
8) Whitaker can't interfere with any of this. The indictments that are already filed contain all the puzzle pieces. The Manafort sentencing memo that Mueller is about to release will detail the specifics of what Manafort has been lying about...
9) Which are almost certainly the same as what Trump lied about in his written answers to Mueller's questions (the open-book test that Trump has just turned in). Manafort's sentencing memo could lay those details before the public also.
10) WHAT ALL THIS MEANS--Mueller is perhaps about to issue a massive "report" in the form of sentencing recommendations for Manafort, which will lay out the entire Trump/Russia conspiracy, in a way that even Whitaker can't fuck with.
11) Many commentators have suggested that Manafort was willing to keep lying because he'd been secretly offered a pardon by Trump. But even if Trump pardons him a) the truth will all be known, and b) Manafort can still be tried in state courts.
12) Those state trials CAN'T be pardoned by Trump--and the further information that will come out in those trials will be devastating--and a condition of Manafort's guilty please so far is that he cannot appeal those verdicts ANYWHERE.
13) My addition to the analysis: Mueller is already seizing nearly $50 million in Manafort's assets. This is not merely punishment for Manafort. It is precedent and warning to others. Mueller may be prepared to seize the assets of all of the Trump/Russia conspirators. Yes, "all".
Whitaker can't do a thing about any of that. Any pardons Trump attempts won't stop the data dump, and will be evidence of obstruction.
The next few weeks will be nuclear.
The next few weeks will be nuclear.
PS Remember, Paul Manafort was in the room at the Trump Tower meeting in which Russia first offered stolen emails to the Trump campaign in exchange for lifting Magnitsky sanctions...
Need I say more?
cnn.com/2017/07/14/pol…
Need I say more?
cnn.com/2017/07/14/pol…
This seems important.
NYT has just confirmed that Manafort was secretly passing information to Trump's lawyers, while he was cooperating with Mueller. As I said above, that seems to be trying to get the Trump and Manafort lies in tune with each other.
That could well be an additional obstruction charge--not only for Manafort, but for his lawyers, and for Trump's lawyers.
