Tag: Paul Manafort

Devin Nunes silent after Trump gang’s 16 convictions and guilty pleas

The following article by Caroline Orr was posted on the ShareBlue.com website August 24, 2018:

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.)Credit: Carlos Barria, Reuters

Rep. Devin Nunes seems to hope that ignoring the damning news will make it go away.

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) is one of Trump’s most outspoken defenders. He even admitted, during a private fundraiser, that he uses his position as head of the House Intelligence Committee to shield Trump from scrutiny as the ongoing Russia investigation continues to deliver damning evidence.

And to be sure, there’s plenty of damning evidence that Trump needs protection from: Two dozen people, including five in Trump’s inner circle, have been charged in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

That’s what makes Nunes’ silence this week so conspicuous.

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Trump recently sought his lawyers’ advice on possibility of pardoning Manafort, Giuliani says

The following article by Carol D. Leonnig and Josh Dawsey was posted on the Washington Post website August 23, 2018:

President Trump has made many high-profile pardons, and is considering more. Here’s what his pardoning strategy says about his view of the legal system. (Video: Jenny Starrs /Photo: Jabon Botsford/The Washington Post)

President Trump recently asked his lawyers for their advice on the possibility of pardoning Paul Manafort and other aides accused of crimes, his lawyer said Thursday.

The subject of pardoning Manafort came as Trump’s former campaign chairman faced multiple charges of bank fraud and tax evasion in an Alexandria criminal case, Trump attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani said in an interview.

Trump’s lawyers counseled the president against the idea of pardoning anyone linked to the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, according to Giuliani, saying Trump should at least wait until special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has concluded his probe. Giuliani said the president agreed and did not push the issue further.

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Pardon carries risks for both Trump and Manafort

The following article by Lydia Wheeler was posted on the Hill website August 23, 2018:

It’s a Trump pardon or bust for Paul Manafort.

Winning a presidential pardon may be the only hope of escaping prison for President Trump’s former campaign chairman now that he’s been convicted on eight counts of tax and bank fraud stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

Manafort, 69, is facing a sentence that could put him behind bars for the rest of his life. And while no sentencing date has been set yet, he could know his prison term before a federal jury in Washington, D.C., considers evidence against him on separate charges in a second criminal trial that starts Sept. 17.

Here’s Why Paul Manafort’s Second Trial Could Be Even Worse for Him Than His First

The following article by Alex Henderson was posted on the AlterNet.org website August 22, 2018:

He will go to trial next month in Washington, DC for additional felony charges.

Albert V. Bryan Courthouse. Credit: Zach Gibson, Getty Images

Tuesday, August 21, 2018 was a very bad day for President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, who was found guilty of eight felony counts in a federal courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia near Washington, DC. After deliberating for four days, a jury determined that Manafort was guilty of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failing to file a report of foreign bank accounts. And the 69-year-old Manafort—a veteran political consultant who also worked on the presidential campaigns of Ronald Reagan, Gerald R. Ford, George H.W. Bush and Bob Dole—is facing another legal battle as well: next month, he will go to trial in Washington, DC for additional felony charges.  Continue reading “Here’s Why Paul Manafort’s Second Trial Could Be Even Worse for Him Than His First”

Lone holdout on Manafort jury blocked conviction on all counts, juror says

The following article by Matt Zapotosky was posted on the Washington Post website August 23, 2018:

This courtroom sketch shows Paul Manafort listening to U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III at federal court in Alexandria. Credit: Dana Verkouteren, AP

A juror in the trial of Paul Manafort said that all but one of the jurors wanted to convict President Trump’s former campaign chairman on every charge he faced — although she criticized special counsel prosecutors as seeming “bored” throughout the trial and said she believed their true motive was to “get the dirt on Trump.”

The juror, Paula Duncan, spoke to Fox News Channel on Wednesday and later to NBC News . She told Fox that jurors “again and again” laid out for the lone holdout the evidence that convinced them that Manafort was guilty. But the holdout, a woman, said she harbored reasonable doubt, Duncan said.

“The evidence was overwhelming,” Duncan said, pointing to prosecutors’ extensive paper trail. “I did not want Paul Manafort to be guilty, but he was, and no one’s above the law.”

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Trump Praises Manafort, Saying ‘Unlike Michael Cohen’ He ‘Refused to Break’

The following article by Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Eileen Sullivan was posed on the New York Times website August 22, 2018:

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday praised his just-convicted former campaign chairman for refusing to “break” and cooperate with federal prosecutors investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, expressing appreciation for the personal loyalty of a felon found guilty of defrauding the United States government.

In a series of tweets the morning after an extraordinary day in which Paul Manafort, his former campaign chief, was convicted of tax and bank fraudand his longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations he said were directed by Mr. Trump, the president appeared to suggest he was more concerned with the fallout for himself than with the crimes.

He compared Mr. Cohen unfavorably with Mr. Manafort, attacking Mr. Cohen as a bad lawyer who had caved to pressure from biased federal prosecutors while lauding Mr. Manafort as a “brave man” with a “wonderful family” who had stood strong.

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Mueller investigation gains new momentum

The following article by Morgan Chalfant was posted on the Hill website August 22, 2018:

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference has new momentum following the conviction of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and guilty plea of former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen.

Manafort’s conviction affirmed the credibility of an investigation that has endured near-daily attacks from President Trump, while Cohen’s guilty plea to campaign finance violations and other charges could present the special counsel with a key witness willing to cooperate.

Neither development is directly related to Mueller’s inquiry into whether there was collusion between Trump’s campaign and Moscow. Still, those closely watching the investigation say that they bolster Mueller’s probe at a critical point and insulate it further from critics calling for its swift end.

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A Perfect Symbol Of Today’s Republican Party

The following commentary by Gene Lyons was posted on the National Memo website August 21, 2018:

2016 Republican National Convention delegates. Credit: Mike Segar, Reuters

How much power it will retain after November remains in doubt, but the Republican Party as historically understood is vanishing before our eyes. What remains is the Party of Trump, an authoritarian cult of personality.

As I write, the President of the United States has been engaged in a barefaced effort at jury-tampering in a trial directly affecting his personal interest. While a jury deliberated eighteen counts of tax evasion and bank fraud against former campaign manager Paul Manafort, Trump daily assailed the prosecutors as “thugs” and their case as a politically-motivated fraud.

Continue reading “A Perfect Symbol Of Today’s Republican Party”

After two convictions, pressure mounts on Trump

The following article by Dan Balz was posted on the Washington Post website August 21, 2018:

In one hour on Aug. 21, the presidency of Donald Trump was dramatically altered with the conviction of Paul Manafort and the guilty plea of Michael Cohen. (JM Rieger/The Washington Post)

No day during President Trump’s 19 months in office could prove as dangerous or debilitating as Tuesday. Everything that happened in a pair of courtrooms hundreds of miles apart strengthened the hand of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and weakened that of the president of the United States.

This was a day when truth overran tweets, when facts overwhelmed bald assertions. Presidential tweets, however provocative, eventually disappear into the ether. Tuesday’s convictions could send two people who have had close relationships with Trump to prison for several years, while one of them brought the investigation to the doorstep of the White House. Continue reading “After two convictions, pressure mounts on Trump”

After Tough Tuesday, No Mention of Former Aides at Trump Rally

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website August 22, 2018:

President Trump at a rally on in Charleston, WV. Paul Manafort, his former campaign manager and a longtime political operative, was found guilty in a Washington court earlier in the day on federal charges. Credit: Spencer Platt, Getty Images

As Donald Trump began to speak Tuesday evening at a political rally in West Virginia, there was a problem with his microphone. In a way, it was a fitting moment near the end of a very rough day for the president.

Trump lost Tuesday on optics alone. And the fallout from two dramatic court scenes could deliver him legal and political headaches — though he has a certain Teflon quality that allows him to absorb negative developments and retain support of around 40 percent of the U.S. electorate.

About two hours before Trump departed the White House for the Charleston rally, news broke that Michael Cohen, his former personal attorney and fixer,  would plead guilty to multiple campaign finance, bank fraud and tax fraud charges. That came just before the president’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was found guilty on eight counts of tax evasion and bank fraud by a jury in Virginia. Manafort faces up to 80 years in prison.

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