With reports that Paul Manafort visited Julian Assange before joining the campaign, it begins to answer the question staffers from the Trump campaign were asking back in 2016: How did a washed-up operative get control of a presidential campaign? 1/
Back in the Summer of 2016, as Manafort pushed efforts to change the GOP platform in favor of Russia and the emails leaked, staffers were telling everyone something was really, really off and suspicious inside the Trump campaign. 2/
They didn't know how Manafort, who had been a non-factor in politics for decades, suddenly rose to the top of the campaign structure. And they were unsettled by the sudden focus on Russia and Russian interests that accompanied him. 3/
This was back when simply reporting on the possibility of collusion got you instantly labeled a conspiracy theorist and crackpot. But many of us were simply reporting on the whispers we were hearing, not to mention the overt moves Manafort and Trump were making. 4/
If you go back and look, Trump's speeches suddenly turned very pro-Russian, anti-NATO. It isn't hard to thread that together. The campaign staffers were really surprised by this and no one understand Manafort's sudden ascent. 5/
With the Guardian's report, that ascent makes much more sense now. It appears Manafort, backed by Roger Stone and others in the Trump orbit, might have come to the campaign with an assurance of damaging information that would leak and hurt Clinton and the Democrats. 6/
This appeared to be a strategy that lasted while Manafort was at the helm and led to intense public flirtation with Russia and screeds against NATO. When Manafort's dealings in Ukraine came to light, he was jettisoned, but the focus remained. 7/
Then Bannon came on and the haymaker that was the leaks transitioned into a much more virulent white nationalist/faux-populist appeal, which sealed the election in full. It's a jarring transition, but makes sense when you isolate Manafort's tenure. 8/
Manafort's time at the top of the Trump campaign is really bizarre compared to Lewandowski and Bannon. Watch the dates, the abrupt change in policy and tone. This was someone who came in with a direct focus on a direct outcome. He bargained his way in and changed everything. 8/
I reported on this in the Summer of 2016 but the holes and questions were daunting. Now that Manafort, Stone, and Assange are connected, those holes and questions are clearing up rapidly, but it's an extremely disturbing picture that's emerging. 9/9
