Now it Begins: Indictments and a Conviction!

Paul Manafort

President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and his associate, Rick Gates, are now in serious trouble. They were indicted on Monday by a federal grand jury under direction of Special Counsel, Robert Mueller. An abbreviated list of the key charges are as follows:

Failure to register as a foreign agent
Money laundering (Multiple counts)
Making false statements to the Department of Justice
Making false statements about being a foreign agent
Tax fraud
Bank fraud

Rick Gates

 

Manafort and Gates turned themselves in to the FBI, were officially charged in federal court and are now out on bail.

And although the indictments don’t link Donald Trump with Russia in any way, the eventual unrolling of all the evidence could possibly lead in that direction.

At the very least, the Manafort/Gates arrests seriously calls into question Trump’s vetting of people who work for him.

Want to see the full indictments? Click here.

As if that weren’t enough, Special Counsel Robert Mueller also revealed on Monday that George Popadopoulos, a little known foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign had already pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about his contacts with Russians.

According to court records, Popadopoulos claims he spoke directly to the President about possibly working directly with Russia in gathering dirt about Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign.

George Popadouplos

Popadopoulos was arrested this past July and since then has been working with the Feds in a highly cooperative fashion.

Want to see the actual statement of offenses in this case. Click here.

As big as the news of the Manafort/Gates indictments was, the Popadopoulos revelations ended up being a flaming arrow pointed directly at the White House and its possible     connection to Russia’s meddling with the 2016 U.S. election. Last night, according to many news sources, President Trump was livid about all that had taken place that day.

Want to read more about Trump’s reaction? Click here.

The general consensus of yesterday’s news is that those events were just the beginning of what eventually will be a barrage of accusations against other Trump associates and even against the President himself.

Could that mean an early end to the Trump administration? Stay tuned and see what happens.

Note: This article was originally published by Indivisible of Central Florida.

For Further Information

After the Manafort Indictment, the Mueller Investigation Enters a New Phase (The New Yorker.com) 

Former Trump Aides Charged as Prosecutors Reveal New Campaign Ties with Russia

George Papadopoulos’ plea deal could contain a bombshell. (Slate.com)

Papadopoulos’ guilty plea is much bigger problem for Trump than the Manafort Indictments

(CNN.Com)

What the Manafort indictment proves about Trump (and what it doesn’t)  (CNN.com)

Why George Papadopoulos Is More Dangerous Than Paul Manafort (New York Times.com)

 

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