A federal judge tore into all of the legal arguments that a lawyer for President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort made on Wednesday in his long-shot civil case to convince her that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has run amok and should be reined in.
“I don’t really understand what is left of your case,” U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said to Kevin Downing, Manafort’s attorney, after peppering him with a lengthy series of questions.
Manafort filed a civil lawsuit on Jan. 3 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Department official who appointed the special counsel, in a key legal test of how far Mueller’s mandate extends.
Jackson did not say when she might rule on the civil case, which the Justice Department is seeking to dismiss.
Manafort's accusation that the Mueller investigation had gone off the rails in its investigation of his past interactions with Ukraine and Russia, was essentially undermined by the revelation that Rod Rosenstein specifically directed Mueller to do just that:
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told special counsel Robert Mueller in a classified August 2, 2017, memo that he should investigate allegations that President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was "colluding with Russian government officials" to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, prosecutors in the Russia probe revealed late Monday night.
Mueller was also empowered by Rosenstein to investigate Manafort's payments from Ukrainian politicians, a cornerstone of the Trump adviser's decades-long lobbying career that has resulted in several financial criminal charges so far.
That does not leave Manafort a legal leg to stand on here, which is essentially what this judge is explaining to his lawyers.
All Paul Manafort has to do to make much of this go away is to flip and start voluntarily cooperating with the Mueller investigators.
The fact that he will not do that makes me think that there is more here than simply defending his former boss.
I believe it is too late now for him to flip. He could have gotten some leniency if he had done so last year, but he refused. He is hoping or at least was hoping for a pardon from Tiny Hands, but by now, his case has grown from federal to also state case, which dimwit cannot pardon him for. Even if he should flip now, he will not get any leniency because of his non-compliance.
ReplyDeleteEither way, he will not see daylight after this anymore. He will be for the rest of his life behind bars.
Or the Russians will kill him before he sings.
You've covered everything; no way out for Manafort.
DeleteI think it was always fear of losing, not just his life but, his loved ones at the hands of Putin.
Appreciate your thoughtful comments 6:50. I also felt that Manafort was foolishly waiting/hoping for a pardon.
DeleteRead man talking.
DeleteOld manfart is so deep in the swamp that nothing is gonna save him or his family from the ruins of Russian filled lies of Donald John Trump. And the same for Donald John Trump and his foundation of so called family and friends, nothing will save them from the outcome and charges of TREASON, COLLUSION, CON SPI RAssY with the enemy. Yep old dotard managed to take down himself, his buddies, their buddies, mobs, blobs and slobs. The foundation of idiots, morons, hair lips and NRA dotards. Way to go BK don.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense. I suspect that this corrupt asswipe
ReplyDeleteis accustomed to buying his way out of everything!
I hope you are correct.
CRIMEa!
ReplyDeleteBolshivek is your target.
DeleteEnestitize those bitches.
Especially the locals. ;)
"The discussion on Morning Joe this morning what not only that Donald Trump is a liar, but he is now surrounding himself with liars.
ReplyDeleteI found what John Meacham said to be true, but not comforting:
JOHN MEACHAM: Do you remember the -- I guess maybe the day after the inauguration when the new president went out to the george H.W. Bush Intelligence Center? (Joe Scarborough: Good lord.)
You know the quotation on the wall out there which is in the Gospel of John: "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." You know, not to be overly grand at this hour of the day, but there's an enormous amount of salience to that. Presidents historically get in trouble when they think they can put one past the broad populous. If you -- President Trump, Johnson in Vietnam. President Nixon in nearly everything. And there was a great test proposed during World War II by Churchill about how the British people or the American people could react to a crisis, could undertake great public sacrifice, but they only did it if they were told the truth and he proposed a two-prong test. He said that the British people can face any misfortune with buoyancy as long as they're convinced that those in charge of their affairs are not deceiving them, which is to say lying to the public, or themselves dwelling in a fool's paradise. Put another way, they're out of touch with reality themselves. It seems to me right now the president probably fails both tests. This may take another couple of years. It took us four years of Joe McCarthy. It took six and more years with Vietnam, but the truth ultimate ultimately will out here and I think honestly that both the president and those who lie and misrepresent and enable him on his behalf are on the wrong side of history here."C&L
https://crooksandliars.com/2018/04/scarborough-calls-out-latest-huckabee
Delete"~IT~'s just saying we'll find out later whether this man is an enemy or not to the United States when he's interfered with our democracy"
pooty or dotard?
P A R D O N
ReplyDeletethey all think they can get away with everything
Considering what HAS been done, yeah. They will go bye bye. Rinse. Repeat.
Deletehttps://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/devin-nunes-legal-actions-electronic-communications
ReplyDelete"Nunes’ latest letter is also still seeking more information about Page’s surveillance warrants. He initially made Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), another House Intel Republican, his designee to see an unredacted version as his staff worked on their memo. He would like other committee members to be allowed to view unredacted versions of the warrants"