Trump’s lawyers were briefed on what Manafort told investigators, inflaming tensions with Mueller: NYT report

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/11/27/manafort-mueller.html

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That’s their DEFENSE??

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Good luck with that pardon Paulie!

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Mueller is playing 4th dimensional chess and Team Drumpf is playing Connect 4 with a broken bottom latch.

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Man oh man oh Manafort…

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Napolitano hasn’t been a judge since 1995. He’s a Fox News talking head, and Right Wing gadfly known for making inaccurate and outrageous statements. I don’t think its possible to plead guilty to things you haven’t even been charged with. Unless it relates some how to a still sealed indictment. Either way Napolitano wouldn’t really be in a position to know.

What Mueller did do was make Manafort read a lengthy, detailed admission into the record when entering his plea. Apparently including details and admissions covering crimes he wasn’t pleading to or charge with yet. So if a State charges with something relating to those admissions, prosecution is pretty much a lock. As there’s a confession under oath already on a court record. Best guess that’s what’s being referred to.

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Combined with the news about Mueller retracting the plea deal because he “later” discovered that Manafort had lied, this re-inforces my suspicion that Mueller cottoned onto this slimy little arrangement during the interview process. He then decided to lead Paulie Numbnuts down the garden path by allowing him to think he was putting one over on the investigators, allowed his lawyer to feed the “believable” lies to Il Douche, who then put them down in writing on his own open-book exam. Now Mueller is pulling the rug out from under both of these smarmy arseholes, demonstrating in the process that they’ve been colluding all along.

Enjoy your years as a guest of the Greybar Hotel, Paulie – federal or state, it doesn’t matter to me. Be sure to ask for an ostrich skin jumpsuit.

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Since Manafort is the kind of arrogant douchebag who’d think he’s the smartest and most ruthless person in a room containing Robert bloody Mueller, I’m guessing he also admitted to doing things he didn’t know would get him in un-pardonable trouble with the states’ attorneys general.

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Just when you think you’ve heard the stupidest thing you could imagine…

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I stopped thinking there was a ‘rock bottom’ to ‘hit’ a while ago; we are truly living in the dumbest timeline.

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Well the guy did just get caught violating his plea deal in a way that forfeits a lot of cash and puts him in jail for a lot longer. And he doesn’t seem to know how a pardon actually works. So I’d be willing to bet he let slip all sorts of shit thinking he could smarm his way out of it.

Its like these people took “it’s not the crime it’s the cover up” as a challenge. They think they’re outmaneuvering everyone, but they’re just spreading the illegal around.

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This should be filed under “No Shit, Sherlock”

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How can these people be so successful and yet so ignorant?

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The American wealthy have spent generations selling the myth that financial success is strongly corellated with merit and intelligence.

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Cronyism and “Old Money”. Seriously. They barely have the skills to pay the bills, to coin a phrase, let alone to manipulate the system to enrich themselves without leaving trails that Mueller’s grandkids could follow.

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… While at the same time refusing to run their kids through an educational program worthy of the name, let alone provide the extra training necessary to operate above the law and get away with it. But hey, they’re rich because they’re ruthless and well-connected, not because they’re smart…

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Well what they did was legal as in broke no law.
I know, painful.

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This headline sure buried the lede!

“Were briefed on” made me think they were getting updates from Mueller in some calculated effort on his team’s part. But they were briefed on it by Manafort’s lawyer? Wow!

I love that Giuliani confirmed the story (I wonder if the rest of Trump’s team agreed America’s Mayor should do that). Way to throw Manafort under the bus.

One thing that everyone seems to be assuming, but that I can’t see facts on, is that Manafort’s lawyer was briefing Trump’s team at Manafort’s request. I understand why people would assume that, but I also wonder about the possibility that Manafort’s lawyer doesn’t really care about Manafort’s interests, or at least doesn’t put them first.

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I wonder if they’ll pull a Michael Cohen and pretend the lawyer took that initiative all on his own without any knowledge or input from his client.

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