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Paul Manafort breaches plea agreement, likely to receive 20+ years in jail

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Xzi

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This entire thing is based on a foreign government worker staying at his hotel, which they're trying to spin as an emolument.

A subpoena is fine, but it's not really going to turn up anything other than "ambassador A stayed 2 nights and paid some money for his stay"
A Saudi government official buying out 50 rooms right after the election, only one of which was used, is a blatantly obvious violation of the emoluments clause. It's far from the only violation though. Since Trump didn't remove himself from his businesses when elected, he's been in violation of the emoluments clause from day one of his presidency and every day since.
 
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Four years of prison time is being recommended for Michael Cohen, as prosecutors dug up additional contacts with Russians that Cohen had not disclosed:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/07/nyregion/michael-cohen-sentence.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

More information about Manafort's crimes and lies was released today, and it seems to suggest Trump had prior knowledge about the Trump Tower meeting. In which case Mueller definitely has the evidence to prove that:

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/mueller-manafort-filing-lies
 
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Xzi

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Update to the above, Butina is indeed set to plead guilty to conspiring to act as an agent of the Kremlin:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...dfd0e0dd65a_story.html?utm_term=.3a506b3664cc

In private communications her boyfriend claimed that he set up a Trump-Russia NRA conduit for campaign funds:

https://www.salon.com/2018/12/12/ma...-russia-nra-conduit-as-campaign-funds-flowed/

Salon said:
Admitted Russian spy Maria Butina’s Republican operative boyfriend wrote in private communications that he was involved in setting up a “very private line of communication” between Russia and the Trump campaign using the National Rifle Association as a “conduit.”

Butina, a 30-year-old Russian gun rights activist, worked for years to cultivate relationships within Republican and NRA circles. She was charged with working as an agent of the Russian government earlier this year and on Monday agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges and cooperate with prosecutors.
 

Xzi

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CNN has obtained the letter of intent to build Trump Tower Moscow, signed by Trump himself:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/18/poli...ter-of-intent-rudy-giuliani-moscow/index.html

Giuliani was claiming as recently as Sunday that the letter was not signed.


Mike Flynn may not avoid jail time after all despite prosecutors singing his praises for cooperation. Judge Sullivan dug into Flynn during his initial sentencing hearing:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...ce1bb4-0247-11e9-b5df-5d3874f1ac36_story.html

WaPo said:
“Arguably, that undermines everything this flag over here stands for,” the judge said. “Arguably, you sold your country out.”

“I’m not hiding my disgust, my disdain, for this criminal offense,” Sullivan said.

“I cannot assure you, if you proceed today, you will not receive a sentence of incarceration,” Sullivan said.
Sentencing was delayed after this initial hearing and will be coming later.
 
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Xzi

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It has actually gotten so bad, that the word treason is being thrown around.
It is getting really bad, and always more and more blatant. Two more stories from today, and all you need is the titles to highlight the absurdity here:

'Lifting Russian Sanctions Key to Trump Deal Exposed by Cohen'

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/...d-by-cohen-1385505347911?cid=eml_mra_20181201

'Trump admin to lift sanctions on firms owned by Russian oligarch Deripaska'

https://thehill.com/regulation/nati...-sanctions-on-firms-owned-by-russian-oligarch
 
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Xzi

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Had to debate whether or not to make another thread for this, but Trump has suddenly and unexpectedly decided to withdraw all US troops from Syria:

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/i...syria-victory-iran-russia-experts-say-n950111

While also withdrawing half of our troops from Afghanistan:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/20/us/politics/afghanistan-troop-withdrawal.html

It seems pretty clear that Russia and Iran are set to benefit most of all from these withdrawals. General Mattis was advising against troop withdrawal from Syria previously, and these rash decisions were the tipping point for him. He announced his resignation yesterday in a letter with some clear rebukes to Trump:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/20/us/politics/jim-mattis-defense-secretary-trump.html

Many viewed Mattis as the last 'adult in the room' for the Trump administration, so things could potentially get a lot worse with nothing but psychos and sycophants surrounding the president.
 
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Xzi

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Big update today, prosecutors say that Manafort shared campaign polling data with a Russian associate possibly tied to Russian intelligence:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/08/us/politics/manafort-trump-campaign-data-kilimnik.html

They used this data to target subgroups and individuals online. This essentially confirms that Mueller has evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Wow...that's certainly a scoop. :blink:

To be honest: thus far I was only partially on the fence on the whole collusion thing. I mean...if I had known that people would actually VOTE for Trump, I'd try to influence people into a different opinion as well. I really can't see why others - yes, even Russian ones - aren't given the same liberty. I mean...It's not Russia's fault that others believe random guys on the internet.

But this shows that even this part is rigged. If those Russian intelligence companies were given poll results - which I can't but assume is their prime motivation for trusting or distrusting someone - then that's a pretty strong factor. But it's rather hard to believe. I mean...let's say that poll results show which people are very much pro abortion (or anti. whatever...it's an example here). Does this mean that by Manafort sharing this with associates who are active on social media, they can make these groups believe that Clinton is AGAINST abortion ? :unsure:
 
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Xzi

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But this shows that even this part is rigged. If those Russian intelligence companies were given poll results - which I can't but assume is their prime motivation for trusting or distrusting someone - then that's a pretty strong factor. But it's rather hard to believe. I mean...let's say that poll results show which people are very much pro abortion (or anti. whatever...it's an example here). Does this mean that by Manafort sharing this with associates who are active on social media, they can make these groups believe that Clinton is AGAINST abortion ? :unsure:
Indeed, Russia was able to target exactly the voters they needed to with exactly the messages they needed to via social media and other online advertisement.

Additionally this story broke yesterday, the FBI was investigating whether Trump was secretly working for Russia well prior to Comey's firing and the start of the Mueller investigation:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/us/politics/fbi-trump-russia-inquiry.html
 
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Mueller has requested a delay in the sentencing of Rick Gates, Manafort associate, because he is still cooperating in several investigations:

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/15/mueller-seeks-delay-for-ex-trump-official-rick-gates-sentencing-says-he-is-cooperating-in-several-investigations.html?__source=twitter|main

Additionally Mueller's team has released fillings that detail how Manafort broke his plea agreement:

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckr...s-filing-on-why-manafort-broke-plea-agreement

Nearly two hundred pages of evidence/exhibits, though much is redacted. Highlights include a GRU officer known to both Manafort and Gates who helped funnel money from Russia to the Trump inauguration, and then from there to the Trump businesses. Likely the same Russian intelligence officer who was given Trump campaign polling data.

Lastly, Mueller has issued subpoenas for three associates of Jerome Corsi, former DC Bureau Chief for Infowars and Roger Stone associate:

https://abcnews.go.com/beta-story-c...es-conservative-commentator/story?id=60391636
 
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The investigation has been somewhat quiet lately with the shutdown continuing for over a month now. The latest is that Mueller seems to be probing Trump campaign connections to the NRA:

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-pol-mueller-trump-nra-russia-20190122-story.html

https://www.salon.com/2019/01/24/robert-muellers-probe-extends-to-nra/

As has been reported before, Maria Butina, who plead guilty to acting as an agent of the Russian government and had a lot of close NRA ties, is now cooperating with prosecutors on several investigations. The NRA seems a likely avenue for Russia to have funneled money to the Trump campaign as well.
 
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Holy shit, we're breaking into the top dogs now. Roger Stone, Trump's bestie and advisor, has been arrested in connection to the Mueller probe:

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-associ...s-obstruction-charge-113041826--politics.html

I honestly expected a couple more dominoes to fall before Stone, but obviously Mueller has enough evidence to move on the rat fuck right now. Stone is facing seven charges, including obstruction of justice and witness tampering.
 
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Xzi

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Mueller went into detail today about Roger Stone's connections to Wikileaks and the DNC hack:

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profil...ail-about-roger-stone-connection-to-dnc-hack/

It's looking highly likely that these activities, as well as Manafort's communications and information exchange with Russian operatives, are all going to tie back to Trump as the shot-caller. Mueller can later pile on additional conspiracy and collusion charges to everybody involved, after indicting the lot of them individually.
 

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