According to the indictments, Manafort and Gates acted as unregistered agents for the government of Ukraine, between 2006 and 2015. (I blogged about Ukraine & Russia starting in 2013, here, here and here)
It appears that Manafort had ties to Ukraine's President Yanukovych, who was president from 2010 to 2014. Apparently Gates and Manafort profited from those ties and got millions that were laundered through the US.
One thing I was looking at during the Orange Revolution in Ukraine was who would profit from that crisis? Looks like it was Manafort and Gates, along with President Yanukovych, who would eventually flee to Russia.
There is an interesting timeline, involving a confluence of events, when it comes to Manafort and the Trump campaign; Manafort joined the Trump campaign back in March 2016, after Trump fired Corey Lewandowski.
By June of 2016, there was a meeting at Trump Tower, with Don Jr., Kushner and Manafort with a lawyer who had Kremlin ties. The Senate Intelligence Committee has been investigating this meeting, at first Donny Jr. denied it ever happened. Recall, that this meeting happened because these people thought they could get some incriminating evidence on Hillary Clinton.
By August of 2016 it was reported that Manafort may have illegally received $12.7 million from The Party of Regions, President Yanukovych's former party.
By August 17th Trump had his first security briefing, 2 days later, Manafort resigned and Steve Bannon took his place.So there's some context.
Whether there is any evidence, when it comes to Trump's campaign being tied in, remains to be seen. Trump tweeted that there was "NO COLLUSION"
I did have my suspicions about Trump's intentions, when I wrote about the JFK Files last week, that he may have done the CIA/FBI a solid, allowing them to redact more incriminating evidence, in order to stay out of trouble, in case of any dirt the Mueller investigation found out about Trump.
That could also include members of Trump's family.
Regarding the "softening"of the GOP platform on Russia, during the Trump campaign, the US would not be giving weapons to Ukraine. Trump denied he was involved, (We just give weapons to the Saudi's and Israel.)
Also, on Friday, when the indictments were sealed, a US Eastern Virginia Attorney by the name of Dana Boente, resigned, clearing the way for a Trump appointment. There was speculation that Trump could hire someone sympathetic, who could be persuaded to fire Mueller.
Then there's speculation that Manafort or Gates will be persuaded to take immunity in order to rat on other rats that haven't jumped ship.
So much winning!
So, I wonder how long this will actually last? The Las Vegas shooting was about a week.
Then we've got those kneeling football players ruining America. Oh, the humanity!
I doubt this story is going to last longer than Halloween, depending on what distraction is served up next. Maybe for trick or treat Trump will pardon Manafort and Gates.
Tonight is Mischief Night, anything can happen!
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