Vox on Friday ran a story by the noted journalist Mr. Waas that profiles Paul Manafort’s early and late efforts to advise Trump on how to undermine the Mueller investigation. www.vox.com/... The latest details have been gleaned from unnamed sources close to the Whitehouse, and also using information gained from Court information regarding Manifort’s violation of his plea agreement. So, what’s new here?
First, Waas specifically states it is Manafort who coaches the administration to badmouth and undermine the FBI and Justice Dept. This messaging was not some impulsive reaction from Trump to “hit back at his enemies 10 times harder.” The idea of rogue agents and a deep state out to get Trump was Manafort’s consciously directed advice to Trump. Upshot? Russian Federation operative Manafort is still very much pulling the strings of our malevolent Pinocchio, in this Administration’s opening days. The guy was never at arm’s length, but very much in the ear of the president to an extent that Vox minutely fleshes out. And of course, Manafort never flips, but ends up passing information about the Mueller investigation post plea agreement from his lawyers to White House counsel. Seems like a lot of lawyer malfeasance here, and obstruction of justice for many more people in the Trump circle.
The biggest takeaway when reading the Vox article is how central Manafort is as a sort of mob consigliere for the administration, and that Trump is waging a misinformation campaign via tweet with multiple lines of strategy. Nothing along the major lines of dissing the Mueller investigation, the Steele dossier, or Hillary’s Ukrainian connection gambit is by chance or impulse. This is a Russian style misinformation campaign. Read the Vox article. I am only scratching the surface of the criminal implications, and the players involved.
Update: Sorry gang, I am new, and I don’t know yet how to cut and paste the Vox link for the article, and blowing Manafort’s name is all on me; but I thank the many veteran Kossacks for putting the right link in for everyone. I will work on these diary elements before publishing next time. Thanks for the great comments.