The Wall Street Journal editorial board dismissed Monday’s indictments against former members of Trump’s campaign, and said there is still no evidence that the campaign ever received anything of value from Russia.
On Monday, former Trump campaign official Paul Manafort was indicted for tax evasion and failure to register as an agent of a pro-Russia group in Ukraine. It was also revealed that Trump’s former foreign policy adviser, George Papadopoulos, was cooperating with law enforcement after first lying to the FBI about past communications he had attempting to set up meetings between the campaign and Russia.
In an editorial published that evening, the Journal said that “the main charge against Donald Trump is poor judgment for hiring” Manafort, who the Journal described as a “notorious Beltway operator.”
Many in the news media said the Papadopoulos revelations was more damaging to the White House, but the Wall Street Journal said his story “suggests Russians might have been attempting to supply the Trump campaign with opposition research on Hillary Clinton,” but that there remains “no evidence this happened.”
Both Manafort and Richard Gates, a business associate of Manafort’s, pleaded not guilty on Monday.
