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Trump has been dismissing the trial as nothing to do with him but that changed in yesterday’s testimony. Indeed, what Frank Foer asked yesterday is already answered.
“You know what would be surprising? If Rick Gates and Paul Manafort had suddenly suspended their apparently deeply ingrained habits of fraudulence and thievery during the three months that they ran the Trump campaign.”
https://lastmenandovermen.com/2018/08/07/yes-rick-gates-is-a-dirty-guy-and-he-organized-trumps-inaugural-committee/
It sure would be. And so it shouldn’t be so surprising to learn that they didn’t suspend their fraudulent, criminal behavior while working for Trump-only to begin it anew after leaving. What is a little surprising is how quick we got the answer.
At #ManafortTrial now, Rick Gates explaining fraudulent bank loan applications he & Manafort created in March 2016 – when both were working for the Trump campaign.
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) August 7, 2018
Trump’s name came up repeatedly in yesterday’s testimony.
“President Donald Trump says that the criminal trial of his former campaign aide, Paul Manafort, has nothing to do with him.”
“But jurors in a Virginia courtroom heard his name repeatedly on Tuesday.”
“Documents and testimony spelled out Manafort’s myriad ties to Trump and his 2016 White House run. They showed that Manafort sought to ease his financial pressures by trading on his influence in Trump’s orbit. His longtime deputy, Rick Gates, said it was “possible” he had stolen money from Trump’s inauguration committee. And Gates described the roles that he and Manafort had played in Trump’s winning campaign.”
Rich Gates said it’s ‘possible’ he ripped Trump’s inaugural committee off. Exactly. You lay down with dogs you get up with fleas. It’s certainly possible as he admits to ripping off Manafort and other bosses. But then this is the way Gates and Manafort learned to do business working for corrupt Russian connected oligarchs and politicians in the Ukraine. It’s why Manafort was desperate to find a way to use his position as Trump’s campaign manager to ‘get whole’ with Russian oligarch Oleg Derispaska.
And as intel guys like Malcom Nance tell us, one way Russia recruits people is through financial need and greed. Manafort certainly fits that description.
“The court even learned that Manafort’s ties to Trump extend well beyond the 2016 campaign. A 2013 document entered into evidence showed that Manafort planned to share his New York Yankee season tickets with the then-real estate mogul and reality television star.”
That’s nothing-Trump’s ties with Manafort go back almost 40 years to when he met Manafort and his partner Roger Stone in 1979. There’s no bigger fairytale than that Trump barely knows who Manafort is or met him for the first time in the campaign.
“Even if the core subject of Mueller’s probe — potential collusion with the Kremlin — never came up, the references were a reminder that the case has implications that go far beyond two Republican lobbyist-consultants who concealed the fortune they made assisting a Ukrainian politician years before joining Trump’s campaign.”
In an interview with POLITICO Tuesday, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani dismissed the significance of the frequent references to the president, and derided Gates’s credibility. “Who can tell when he’s telling the truth?” Giuliani asked.
Sure which is why Trump had him organize his inauguration and Trump donors were still paying Gates as an adviser after the Inauguration. Maybe telling the truth is not so highly valued by the faux ‘President’ who only lies 70% of the time himself-until one of his flacks starts telling the truth about himself.
“U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis has all but banned explicit discussion of the president and his campaign. During opening statements last week, Manafort defense attorney Tom Zehnle referred vaguely to Manafort’s role in “the candidacies of … multiple U.S. presidents,” but avoided mentioning Trump by name.”
“Before Tuesday, Trump’s name had barely been uttered in the Virginia federal courtroom. Last week, a home improvement contractor who did work for Manafort made a passing mention to work he’d done on Manafort’s apartment in Manhattan’s Trump Tower.”
This judge-a Reagan appointee-is a little weird. How can you ban the word ‘oligarch’ when discussing Russia and the Ukraine? He seems not to get that a wealthy businessman there is a horse of a very different color than in the U.S. He said the word ‘oligarch’ is pejorative. Maybe, it’s also accurate, especially in Russia and the Ukraine. To ban Trump’s name seems almost like he’s running defense for him.
“The judge in Paul Manafort’s trial told prosecutors Wednesday not to use the word “oligarchs” to describe wealthy Ukrainians who paid millions to the former Trump campaign chairman, the AP reports. US District Judge T.S. Ellis III told attorneys for special counsel Robert Mueller that the term “oligarchs” has a pejorative meaning and using it is not relevant to the fraud and tax charges against Manafort. He cautioned them that the term could imply that Manafort was associating with “despicable people and therefore he’s despicable,” adding, “That’s not the American way.”
You know who Manafort associated with? Rich Gates for many years. Seems pretty clear that the people Manafort consorted with are despicable.
Back to Politico:
“He ultimately became chairman of the campaign,” Gates said of his longtime boss. The Manafort protégé, who is cooperating with prosecutors as part of a plea deal with Mueller, acknowledged that he remained when Manafort left the campaign, and also that he worked for Trump’s inaugural committee.
“With permission Ellis granted before the trial’s opening, prosecutors also discussed an alleged Trump campaign connection to $16 million in loans Manafort received in 2016 and 2017 from Chicago-based Federal Savings Bank. Prosecutors say that in order to receive loans from the bank, Manafort lied about his finances and did favors for its CEO, headed by Stephen Calk.”
“Gates acknowledged Tuesday that Calk landed a position on the Trump campaign’s economic advisory board. Andres also showed the jury a post-election email from Manafort to Gates pushing Calk for a high-ranking Pentagon post.”
“Rick…We need to discuss Steve Calk for [Secretary] of Army. I hear the list is being considered this weekend…P,” said the message.”
In other words, Manafort was offering Calk a job running the U.S. Army in exchange for a $16 million dollar loan.
“Speaking to POLITICO on Tuesday afternoon, Giuliani said any efforts Manafort made for Calk didn’t have much traction with the Trump operation.”
“He got no position in the government,” Giuliani said.
Sure just like the Clinton oppo Don Jr and Manafort sought from the Russian government didn’t pan out.
But if nothing else we have intent-and a clear quid pro qup in how Manafort obtained his $16 million dollar loan he never paid back.