As expected, pursuant to the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort was indicted and turned himself in Monday morning.
Before Democrats and “Never Trumpers” go dancing in the end zone, it’s important to note what the Manafort indictment means, and more importantly, does not mean, for President Trump and the Russian collusion investigation.
First, much of this is old news. The charges in the indictment unveiled today surround consulting work that Manafort performed in 2011, 2012 and 2013 – long before he joined Trump’s campaign in 2016.
The indictment even cites work going back as far as 2001 – a whopping 16 years ago.
Although most of the work occurred years before the Trump campaign, it does appear that Manafort was consulting for foreign governments while he was also campaign chairman. This is highly inappropriate and unethical. Common sense dictates that Manafort should have recused himself from that business or to have disclosed it, at the very minimum.
Second, Manafort’s consulting at this point doesn’t appear to have anything to do with alleged Russian collusion on the part of Donald Trump himself.
The reason? The indictment relates to Manafort, his business partner, and the intricate labyrinth of offshore bank accounts and business deals in which he and his partner were involved. It does not appear that Trump himself knew the extent of Manafort’s consulting work for foreign governments. If Manafort was promising foreign companies and countries that he would be able to influence Trump on foreign policy, Trump does not appear to be aware of it. In that case, Trump himself was “had” and was a victim of Manafort’s alleged lies and deceptive practices.
Third, it is also important to note the significance, or the lack thereof, of Manafort’s role during the Trump campaign. Most people forget this, but Manafort served as campaign chair for only three months during the summer of 2016. He was brought in primarily to whip delegates for the Republican National Convention — a task which he accomplished. There appears to have been no Russian influence there.
Fourth, as to whether the Manafort indictment could be used as an investigative tactic to gain dirt on Trump and sing like a canary against him, that also appears to be unlikely. Manafort himself has told Mueller that he’s got nothing on Trump. In addition, Trump’s attorney Ty Cobb told reporters just last week he was “unworried” about what former aides would talk about and that within all of the documents turned over to Mueller’s office, there is nothing indicating that Trump colluded in any way with Russia nor Manafort.
Sorry, liberals, there will be no “perp walk” of President Trump a la Manafort.
Lastly, the timing of the indictments certainly seems uncanny. It appears that Mueller may have sped up his referral of Manafort for indictment after The Wall Street Journal editorial board and other critics nipped at his heels last week, calling upon him to resign or to disband the special counsel’s office entirely in the wake of the revelation that Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee paid Fusion GPS for the Trump dossier — the now-debunked document that started all of this.
Whether or not Mueller sped up the indictment of Manafort to justify the taxpayer-funded fishing expedition of the special counsel’s office remains to be seen.
However, one thing is certain: Trump has very little to be concerned about with today’s indictment of a one-time, has-been, temporary campaign manager who once consulted on his campaign.
Next story, please.
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