Manafort’s lawyer backdoors Mueller; briefs POTUS attorneys on what client told special counsel
(National Sentinel) All’s Fair: Thanks to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s unusual and perhaps illegal wide-ranging mandate to investigate POTUS Donald Trump’s campaign and “Russian interference” in the 2016 election, special counsel Robert Mueller has been free to run rampage over anyone associated with the president and his team.
One of those caught up in Mueller’s witch hunt is Paul Manafort, a long-time Republican operative, and businessman who was forced by Mueller to plead guilty to alleged financial crimes involving lobbying on behalf of the Ukrainian government that even President Obama’s corrupt Justice Department declined to pursue.
Americans angered and horrified by the power vested in Mueller have watched him wield it against other Team Trump members such as retired Army Gen. Michael Flynn, whose only “crime” was believing that a pair of FBI agents who came to interview him shortly before POTUS Trump took office were on the level and wanted to discuss transition issues.
Now, it seems, finally — POTUS and his administration have caught a break. Or, perhaps more correctly, have created their own advantage against Mueller.
The New York Times is reporting that Manafort’s lawyer, Kevin M. Downing, has been briefing the president’s legal team including former NYC mayor and federal prosecutor Rudy Giuliani on what Mueller’s Democrat attack dogs have been asking his client.
The Times noted:
$rfsn_creative.generate('refersion_client/6972/creatives/dynamic/42121-57c48d096e8bd8437b1bc812a7029f30.json', {
aid: '301229.7c349d4'
});
For example, Mr. Giuliani said, Mr. Manafort’s lawyer Kevin M. Downing told him that prosecutors hammered away at whether the president knew about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting where Russians promised to deliver damaging information on Hillary Clinton to his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. The president has long denied knowing about the meeting in advance. “He wants Manafort to incriminate Trump,” Mr. Giuliani declared of Mr. Mueller.
While Mr. Downing’s discussions with the president’s team violated no laws, they helped contribute to a deteriorating relationship between lawyers for Mr. Manafort and Mr. Mueller’s prosecutors, who accused Mr. Manafort of holding out on them despite his pledge to assist them in any matter they deemed relevant, according to the people. That conflict spilled into public view on Monday when the prosecutors took the rare step of declaring that Mr. Manafort had breached his plea agreement by lying to them about a variety of subjects.
Two things.
It cannot be stated emphatically enough that what Downing was doing did not violate any laws. The Times wants its readers to think that something nefarious has taken place nonetheless because earlier in the story the briefings were described as “highly unusual.” Don’t bet on that.
Secondly, it now makes much more sense why Mueller filed court papers on Tuesday alleging that Manafort has violated his plea agreement — because he’s obviously not telling Mueller that POTUS knew in advance about the Trump Tower meeting.
What difference would it make even if the then-GOP candidate knew? Legally, none. It’s not against the law to ‘meet with Russians.’
But politically, having Manafort say that POTUS knew in advance would allow Mueller to “connect” the president to “the Russians,” and right now — since Mueller doesn’t have anything else on POTUS — damaging him politically is Job One.
The Times and other Left-wing talking heads surmise that Manafort is angling for a presidential pardon. Perhaps. But clearly he’s not giving Mueller what he wants and that — coupled with the backdoor to the president’s legal team — has him in a tizzy.
Mueller’s been played and he’s ticked off about it. That’s what this “Manafort broke his plea agreement” business is all about.
Never miss a story! Sign up for our daily email newsletter — Click here!