Manafort Folds. Now What? - The New York Times
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Manafort Folds. Now What? - The New York Times
His cooperation agreement with Robert Mueller is the start of a new chapter in the special counsel’s investigation.
By Noah Bookbinder, Barry Berke and Norman L. Eisen - September 14, 2018
Those who practice criminal law — including the three of us — have long predicted that Paul Manafort, the disgraced former Trump campaign chairman, would eventually fold to Robert Mueller, the special counsel. On Friday, we were proven right: Mr. Manafort and the special counsel have reached an extensive cooperation agreement, among the most significant developments in Mr. Mueller’s investigation to date.
The capitulation came in spectacular fashion: According to prosecutors, Mr. Manafort has already participated in a so-called proffer session, in which he described information that investigators deemed valuable. Mr. Manafort’s agreement will also require him to give further interviews without the presence of his own counsel, turn over documents and testify in other proceedings. His surrender is complete. We will soon see what it means for the president.
Mr. Manafort’s cooperation obviously represents an enormous pivot from the previous strategies he had seemed to be pursuing — trying to persuade a jury to ignore the strong evidence against him based on personal sympathies or, if that failed, to obtain a pardon from President Trump. In our estimation, this about-face represents a realistic judgment on his part, not to mention vindication of Mr. Mueller’s strategy so far.
A quick pardon was always a long shot. It would be hard for Mr. Trump to justify politically, even given his willingness to use the pardon power with seeming abandon. A pardon would not protect Mr. Manafort from the wide array of state charges that could be brought against him.
Mr. Manafort now has the ability to trade all of the valuable information he has regarding the president and those close to him for a significantly reduced prison sentence. He is the first Trump campaign participant in the now-infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting to break with the president.
Mysteries around that meeting abound. They include whether then-candidate Trump knew about the meeting in advance and why Mr. Trump announced after the meeting had been scheduled that he would soon be giving a major speech on “ the things that have taken place with the Clintons.” Now that Mr. Manafort is cooperating, we may soon have answers.
If all that were not bad enough news for Mr. Trump, Mr. Manafort may also be able to shed light on other episodes during his tenure at the helm of the Trump campaign. Those include the 80-plus contacts between the campaign and other associates and Russia-linked individuals; the campaign’s possible collaboration with WikiLeaks; and the amendment of the Republican National Committee platform on arming Ukraine. Given Mr. Manafort’s history of working with Russian oligarchs and his close ties to Roger Stone, an informal Trump adviser, Mr. Manafort was well-placed to know about any attempts by the campaign or its allies to collude with Russian operatives and others engaged in illegal election interference.
Mr. Manafort may also be able to shed light on obstruction of justice by the president. If the reports of pardon negotiations between the president’s personal attorneys and Mr. Manafort’s lawyers are true, that raises the question of whether any of these discussions could be construed as offering a pardon in exchange for Mr. Manafort’s silence.
Cooperation can be like dominoes. Mr. Manafort’s cooperation is not limited to actions of the president, and if he can help the special counsel bring charges against others close to Mr. Trump, they too may end up cooperating and further strengthening the case that Mr. Mueller is seeking to build.
For Mr. Mueller, the plea deal and cooperation agreement represent momentum: more evidence of his continued success in bringing wrongdoers around the president to justice. It vindicates his strategy of methodically building cases against those in Mr. Trump’s circle and applying pressure on them to cooperate up the chain.
For the president, it is ominous. Yet another person who was in Mr. Trump’s immediate orbit has fallen to the rule of law. Now that Mr. Manafort is helping the investigation and may testify in future criminal proceedings — not to mention congressional ones — Mr. Trump cannot be resting easy.
But most important, for the American people, today’s outcome is further proof that no one — no matter how important or powerful — is immune from justice. Mr. Trump would do well to study the heights from which his former top aide has fallen, and the depth of his plunge.
Noah Bookbinder is the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and a former federal corruption prosecutor. Barry Berke is a co-chairman of the litigation department at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, where he is a partner specializing in white-collar criminal defense. Norman Eisen, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, is the chairman of CREW and author of the forthcoming “The Last Palace: Europe’s Turbulent Century in Five Lives and One Legendary House.”
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Things are heating up for trump. He should resign with his last shred of, well, whatever he calls it...
Hair ?
PPPSSSSSTTTTT - I know you don't like to follow the rules - but - "SEEDS THAT ARE OP-EDS SHOULD BE CLEARLY MARKED AS SUCH IN THEIR TITLE"!!!!!!!!!
Little thing called the CoC. Your actual title "should" have read
What in fuck are you bitching about? You are dead wrong. Manafort has plead guilty. Even Fox News says so...
Manafort has plead guilty to a charge of conspiracy ... and a pardon will do Trump no good since, should one be offered, acceptance is agreeing to guilt, the pardoned individual can be subpoenaed by a grand jury with no fifth amendment right ...
It is not at all likely that Manafort could have made such a deal without understanding that he must now answer all questions in conjunction with the investigation.
I believe he is still incarcerated, likely to emphasize what life will be should he renege.
Psssssst....OOOOOPS!
What gives Trump a problem with the pardon thing is that Manafort pled guilty to the 10 remaining charges out of Virginia as well.
Manafort, Trump's Campaign Manager, Has Plead Guilty to "Conspiring Against The United States". Let that sink in...
I just read a bulletin from NBC...
Seems now it's Pence's ass that's feeling some heat. Manafort picked the running mate and has information on him and Flynn that may get a bit sticky for holy roller boy.
I hate to say “I told everyone so,” but ...
I did more than once.
Ohhhh. Can you imagine a twofer? AFTER the Dems take the house?
President Warren and VP Pelosi....
And we thought they went nuts from the last president???? LOL
Ideally, Manafort gets Pence to fall on his sword first so a non-tainted new VP can be confirmed...before.
Well, since technically there is no Speaker of the House until after the election, we will have to see who that will be. If it's Pelosi then heads will explode on the Right since it is the Speaker who is next in line if the VP can't serve.
I like the way you think...
JBB you know as well as I do, "Facts is facts".
Oh, yes. Wingnut heads would explode (luckily the blast will have little or no effect on bystanders)
Talk about being up shit creek, Manafort is up that creek in a lead canoe and no paddle.
Manafort has agreed to talk and he was in the room, literally. It is time to stock up for the Take Off Party...
The biggest bit of info Manafort can give is whether or not Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting of Jun 9 2016 in advance.
If they can nail that down trump is finished.
If they put the Russians in Trump's Tower office....hoo boy!
Nonsense. It’s meaningless. There is NO crime
why do you love the KGB and hate America
sounds like Trump or a Trump defender to me
Tell that to Manafort. He was found guilty of eight felonies and has now plead guilty to a dozen more...
By all rights, Paul Manafort should spend the rest of his life in prison. We will see if he redeems himself.
I’m not talking about about Manafort’s crimes (although they are typical statist nonsense). I’m referring to the supposed crimes of Trump.
the “collusion” charges and the obstruction of justice charges are both laughable
Remember when they used to call us “snowflakes” ... revenge is best when served cold.
[deleted]
The rules of this site require us to tolerate your endless "eccentricities" without the ability to respond to your "misunderstandings" of this country in any pointed detail.
My guess would be that maybe 5% of Americans would have notable sympathy with your political positions, and that's probably stretching it quite a bit. Your views are on the outside looking in for a reason.
Your views are typical of the extremist left that despises our Constitution and individualism
Damn, Trump has surrounded himself with more felons than a Mafia Don...
That maybe why he is known as the ''The Donald''....LOL
Trump should not only pardon Manafort, he should fire Mueller, Rosenstein, and Sessions. This is the biggest political farce in our nation’s history. It is a collaboration of the deep state and Establishment politicians against Americans.
the FBI, Justice Department, and Mueller are no different than the KGB and have been in this conspiracy against America and Americans for over 50 years.
time to dismantle the Deep State and start the return to liberty.
the left used to share this view until their hatred of Trump became greater than their hatred of the deep state
Wow! How many times a day do you have to wipe the spit off that screen?
Gonna be fun watching the "every channel live" resignation in disgrace of Trump.
Deep in the bowels of the Pentagon the deep state stirs.
I do not know if there were any 'advanced interrogation techniques' used .. but there is certain smell of strong arm tactics when dealing with a federal counterintelligence investigation. Just saying..
I am curious about something... Manafort was the goal from the beginning, wasn't he? so the investigation must be over and now the framing of the charges will begin against the president? or is this still going to continue? I know that no one has the answer - I am interested in what some think the next step will be....
I expect multiple felony indictments will be issued against Roger Stone, Jarrod Kushner and Donald Trump Jr...
Never thought of those 3 as of much significance in the scheme of things .. going to be interesting to watch things unfold..
No. The goal of 'this investigation' is the extent and the manner in which a foreign power infiltrated the US electoral process.
Manafort had Russian connections. It remains to be proven, however----it is possible and very likely---- that 'the Trump' business also has Russian connections. Nothing illegal about that, of course depending on what those connections were and with whom those connections were with and what the purpose those connections were to achieve.
This will all take us to Trump's involvement with the Russia Mafia, years of money laundering through real estate deals … and other criminal conspiracies.
The most prominent figure in American takedowns of Russian mafia figures is … guess who?
BRUCE OHR!
Bruce Ohr Fought Russian Organized Crime. Now He’s a Target of Trump.
Connect the dots.
Not originally I don't think it was .. there was not proof of collusion with the Russians, Robert Mueller had broad range of power in this particular counterintelligence investigation, so he went for the low hanging fruit first and worked his way up to Manafort - which should lead to the President... (?) ... Why would an investigation into the extent a foreign power infiltrated the US election require a special counsel? Have to look that up..
Seems like there is still a great deal of 'if'n' going on .. but I guess it is early .. Manafort did just cave - What if there is nothing on Trump that Manafort can give that links him to anything directly .. 'we' will prob still hear about it. just as 'we' do about White Water and emails etc..
Thanks for you opinion bbl-1
There sure as hell IS evidence of people in the Trump campaign conspiring with the Russians. Papadopoulos, Page, Jr, Manafort, Flynn, Cohen and Kushner all met with Russians BEFORE the election. Trump signed a letter of intent with a Russian investor in Oct, 2015, while campaigning...
The AG recused, the DAG was appointed by a principle of the investigation. You should go read Mueller's appointment letter.
Much of that is because Mueller has been mum. Mueller isn't 'feeding the beast' and isn't trickling out information like Starr did. 'We' didn't know until the minute Manafort elocuted that there was a cooperation agreement.
As bbl-1 said, if the connection between Manafort weren't for corrupt purposes, it would have been all good. The corrupt and clandestine acts are what put Manafort's gonads in a vise. The same will be true for Trump et. al.
IMHO, in order to qualify for a plea and a reduced sentence, Manafort has either corroborated what Mueller already has evidence of or he has already ADDED information to fill in the blanks.
Remember, Manafort's Ukrainian sugar daddy was a Russian puppet. Manafort knows a shit load about the ins and outs of what the Russians have done for over a decade, he knows their contacts that were here and who are STILL here.
Secondly, the charging information cites a conspiracy with the Ukraine, the Israelis and American journalists to disseminate false information in the US.
Those are both counterintelligence gold mines.
So despite Trump's narcissism and the obsession of his supporters, it doesn't have to be ALL about him.
It looks like a few more of Trump minions, including his son, are on the block. Stone is almost a shoe in for jail, and Jr. is next, especially if he lied to Congress.
Kushner has an EXCELLENT lawyer so maybe he told the truth to Mueller and will get out to this unscathed, at least Federally. The charges in NY are a different question altogether.
I'm of two minds on this.
I think these were the needed steps to close him in a corner so they could use him. And now he will buy himself out.
OR
They made a deal with Manafort long before the first gavel was thrown down.
Make him look stressed in public view...lessens the chances that he'll keel over doing body shots in St. Petersburg.
Such investigations generally start at the edges and work their way to the center(piece); along the way, those who might "flip" are informed that the "first one in the door" usually gets the best deal. As each flipper, pleader of guilt, etc. is indicted, convicted, sentenced, etc., a message is thus sent to others who may fear that they are next, and tend to come forward, hoping for a better outcome than if they were (i.e.) subpoenaed.
The real 'stick up the arse' is this: Manafort, a really-really rich guy except the money wasn't really-really his.
The Trump: Exactly the same thing. The Trump is 'broke arse.' The Trump simply has too many 'real estate deals' that were money laundering services for criminal entities. Remove that factor and the Trump is one 'broke arse' dude.
Ivanka for pole dancer.
At this point it seems like all the "best people" Trump surrounds himself with are either going to jail and/or testifying for the prosecution.....
Up next are Don Jr and Jared.
This too. It seems that everybody that gets 'too close' to the Trump gets singed, screwed, cheated, frauded or indicted.
And through it all the Trump still stands. Yeah well, in the game of Russian Roulette there are six chambers. The Trump has played this game for too long. Soon, the chamber will be his and Putin will let him flail in the wind. The Trump is 'used goods.'
The nail in the coffin will be Putin's poison pill video tape. Then the reality that Trump lied to all his gophers and he't not worth anything.
And we'll still get a bunch of "true believers" defending him while still in a trance.
[deleted]
Not sure. The 'poison pill tape' will be meaningless to the rabid base. After all, Vanessa Williams could not be Miss America but Melania Trump can be First Lady about sums it up.
Dirty money will draw support from the Trump. When America learns that 'the Trump' is not rich and a 'true king of debt' like he claimed and has been floated by money laundering for decades---------then they will know.
Just the fact that American banks nor Wall St. will touch him should have warned them but....when you can't see the trees...
on
I heard last night that Manafort will be Mueller's bitch for as long as Mueller says so and, then he gets to be sentenced, the paperwork in the plea deal indicates that Manafort's sentence won't start until Mueller is satisfied with the information that Manafort gives him, in the mean time Manafort gets to enjoy club fed in Washington.
Well, that is what he gets for "Conspiring Against the United States". What did Manafort expect? Roses? A parade?
Sure, isn't that what Trump wants? A parade down Pennsylvania Ave. to honor HIM?
It's almost sad to see the liberals and the Trump haters get their hopes so worked up on this. Manafort isn't going to be a nail in Trumps coffin anymore than Flynn, Popadopolous, Rick Gates or anybody else. I've been hearing for the last two years how all these guys will "flip" and that Trumps impeachment is imminent.
The funny thing is that nothing at the Trump Tower meeting was illegal. Do Democrats really believe GOP senators will vote to remove Trump when we know for a fact the DNC and Hillary actually BOUGHT Russian propaganda and then inserted it into the FISA process to spy on the Trump campaign??
There are people who belong in jail and they are all Democrats. The double standards are so obvious they are blinding.
That was a dumbass comment...they all have flipped.
Just because Mueller hasn't told you anything doesn't mean he hasn't got anything.
When this all gets laid out on a table you'll be searching for a new screen identity and denying you were Rmando.
One thing I found astounding but not surprising was Trump's statement that "flipping should be illegal." So the guy who took an oath to faithfully enforce our laws is saying that it should be illegal for witnesses to cooperate with the government.
We really do have a mob boss for prez.
President Soprano don't like rats!!
Funny, I remember the right saying the same thing when Flynn, Cohen, Popadopalous, Gates, etc. were arrested.
Now that Manafort is singing like a canary he'll no longer be the good guy that Trump has been touting. It's under the bus for Manafort.
I'll add this too. Manafort is between a rock and a hard place. But, considering his 'Russian financial dilemmas', something drew him and opened the door to Trump. Could it be that the pathways into the Russian oligarch 'money cows' were already cut and traveled by Trump Enterprises? Thusly, Manafort saw a clear and free path back into the 'den'?
Almost certainly that's the case. Heck, Trump was renting apartments to the very same Russian mobsters both he and Manafort had borrowed money from.
The part I really love about this is Manafort's plan to repay the $10 million loan from Oleg Deripaska by giving him "inside information" from the Trump WH. It's also not clear if that $10 million is in addition to the $18.9 million he already owed Deripaska.
And Manafort just forfeited his condo in Trump Tower...Hmmmmm
"Forfeited his condo in Trump Tower."
I certainly hope the DOJ rents it out to some FBI agents.
What could be better.
Who knows? Trump claimed he's worth $10 Billion. He must of had some windfalls after his 'casino deflations and bankruptcies.
And by the way. Wasn't the casino failings occurring at about the same time Stone introduced Melania to the Trump?
So... Melania was an arranged marriage to unite the Trump, Putin, and Jackmeov families? Wow it all makes sense now.
Don't know.
But Melania's "I really don't care---Do You" jacket is already conveniently forgotten forever.
I still wonder what that was all about.
if Jackmeov is Melania's last name, you just made my week.
Dear Noah Bookbinder, Barry Berke and Norman L. Eisen Mr. Bookbinder. All three of you should resign from practing law. Are you familar with the fruit of the posiness tree.
derpity doo duh
Everyone that signed those fisa warrants will be indicted.
Ahhhh. More derp.