How soon until Paul Manafort makes a plea deal. That is the looming question that has to be hanging over President Trump’s head Tuesday morning after the late night dump of a secret Rosenstein memo that proves Mueller has broad authorization to investigation Manafort for possible collusion with Russia.
Late last night as the country slept (or tried to, as the case may be), Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office filed its opposition to Paul Manafort’s motion to dismiss the DC indictment and included, thanks to Manafort’s own failure to grasp just how deep he’s in, Rosenstein’s memo as a heavily redacted attachment (C). The memo details alleged Manafort crimes of colluding with the Russian government to throw the U.S. election for Trump.
Thus, the memo destroys Manafort’s own defense and justifies Mueller’s investigation. Mueller is following the money. the money leads to Manafort. Manafort leads to foreign officials. The investigation is justified, has merit, and the defense has nothing if its biggest claim is that Mueller has no authority or justification for his probe into Manafort.
This is the general takeaway:
New this morning: Court docs show Dep AG Rosenstein outlined privately to Mueller he has authority to investigate crimes by Manafort including possibility of “colluding with Russian govt officials”
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) April 3, 2018
Mueller was authorized in a secret memo from Rosenstein to investigate Paul Manafort’s work for the Ukrainian government, according to court filings reported on by WSJ. https://t.co/9r5BRvD72E
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 3, 2018
Having established Mueller’s authorization by Rosenstein’s memo, the next question is when will Manafort turn on on the Big Fish.
National security lawyer Bradley Moss gives Manafort 6 weeks before he cuts a deal:
This filing obliterates Manafort’s defense. Mueller was given clear authority by Rosenstein to do exactly what we all suspected: he is following the money. If there was criminal coordination, Manafort is the likely catalyst for it.
I give Manafort 6 weeks before he cuts a deal. https://t.co/4E9eaYinT6
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) April 3, 2018
If Manafort makes a deal, it will mean he has turned on the Big Fish.
This secret memo also confirms that the collusion smoke is thick and embers are still burning, which not only suggests it actually happened- a person running for the office of the president, who won!, that person’s campaign might have actually worked with a hostile foreign government to “win” the election, but also that a Russian plant might well be in the White House.
Yes, I know. Many people are quite sure they already know this is the case, and Trump does nothing in his actions but give credence to this theory. But facts are a different matter, and legal evidence even more tricky to establish. The idea has been that collusion is hard to prove.
But when the top feeders to the Big Fish turn, it is not hard to prove. And that is a very big deal.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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