Political Prisoner Persecuted , Prosecuted, but not silenced

[ajax18]

It's kind of interesting as wellthat the banks were not the ones who brought charges against Manafort. They were happy with the loans and making money off them. It was the special counsel who decided there was bank fraud, not the banks.

None of these charges would have ever been brought against Manafort but for the creation of the special counsel and its interests in going after Donald Trump through Manafort. Rick Gates actually admits that he stole from Manafort and lied to Weissman about it. But he got immunity from Weissman im exchange for his testimony against Manafort. This tactic of granting immunity to criminals in exchange for testimony against others stinks of injustice that I can't even begin to express. It should be illegal.

Schmo once said that Trump deserved to be pissed on then shot. When I think about that and what people like Weissman and the special counsel have done to carry out their constituents wishes it's kind of amazing to me that there hasn't been a violent civil war.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Ajax has really been harping on a civil war lately. You ok, buddy?

- Doc

[ajax18]

Manafort sought one of the banks to testify in his defense but Weissman had threatened them with an indictment if they did so. This is how our justice system works. I doubt many people understand just how flawed and prone to political bias it really is.

[ajax18]

Manafort was convivted on 8 of Weissman's 32 counts in Virginia. Weissman convinced Mueller he'd get convictions on all of them. The special counsel was disappointed but they still had their sidekick Judge Amy Berman Jackson's case inside the beltway. Manafort asked for a change of venue knowing there was no way he'd get a fair trial in a town that was 92% democrat. Judge Jackson denied the motion for a change of venue. The special counsel had Cohen as an alternative route to get Trump by now so they were more open to a plea deal as well. Msnafort said it was the hardest thing he had to do in admitting to crimes he didn't commit but he clearly had no other choice. It became clear that the special counsel usex the these torture and intimidation tactics to get people to admit to things they didn't do and destroying people who refuse to flip and help them get Trump. But they still have not gotten him yet.

[Vēritās]

Since ajax refuses to answers basic questions, as is typical of him...

But for all his self-exculpation, he offers limp explanations for the behavior patterns that so troubled Mueller’s lawyers. The government has repeatedly alleged that Manafort’s aide, Konstanin Kilimnik was an active Russian agent. All Manafort can muster in response: “He was a U.S. asset,” a claim he asserts without any hard evidence. Did Kilimnik pass along the Trump campaign’s polling data to a Russian oligarch to whom Manafort owed millions? Well, Manafort says, they were just “talking points” about public polling data. That might be a technically accurate description of a document exchanged in one meeting in a cigar bar. But Manafort had allegedly sent Kilimnik private data via encrypted texts over the course of months, according to the bipartisan findings of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Manafort was the loose end in Mueller’s investigation. And it clearly bothered Mueller. In his final report, the special counsel accused Trump of potentially obstructing justice by floating the possibility of a pardon for Manafort.

That’s why the most interesting moment in the book is the last. On December 23, 2020, in his last month in office, Trump finally granted Manafort that pardon. On Christmas Eve, Manafort received a phone call from the president, their first conversation in years.

In Manafort’s account, Trump is overcome with gratitude that Manafort never turned against him. The president can’t stop praising him: “You are a man … you are a real man.” Trump tells him that a lot of people would have caved under the pressure, but he always knew that Manafort had character. He wasn’t a rat.

Of course, it’s possible this call could have gone in a far different direction. It was Manafort’s shameful work in Ukraine that caused one of the biggest scandals of the 2016 campaign—and forced Trump to fire him from the organization. It was Manafort’s dealings that stoked suspicions that Trump might somehow be in cahoots with the Russians. All of this should have been cause for Trump to angrily lash out when they finally connected. The fact that he didn’t speaks far louder than Manafort’s silence.

https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archi ... mp/671160/

[canpakes]

None of these charges would have ever been brought against Manafort but for the creation of the special counsel and its interests in going after Donald Trump through Manafort.

The amazing thing is that the FBI started their investigation more than a year before Trump announced his candidacy, and more than a year before Manafort decided to work for Trump. How did the FBI know to do this? ; )

When I think about that and what people like Weissman and the special counsel have done to carry out their constituents wishes it's kind of amazing to me that there hasn't been a violent civil war.

Maybe there are fewer people out there than you suspect who are willing to rip the country into two, in order to defend and promote tax frauds.

[honorentheos]

What is the critical polling data that Gates gave Konstantin Kiminiek about the 2016 election? Why was it so treasonous? I don't understand.

Good question for Manafort given he denied sharing it and then, when it was discussed in the brief submitted to court asserting he was in breach of his plea deal, much of the detail was redacted. You can check that here (pdf download at link): https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/s ... ISSION.pdf

A Senate Intelligence Committee report documenting their investigation of Manafort's activities described the shared information as:

The Committee found that Manafort's presence on the Campaign and proximity to Trump created opportunities for Russian intelligence services to exert influence over, and acquire confidential information on, the Trump Campaign. Taken as a whole, Manafort's high-level access and willingness to share information with individuals closely affiliated with the Russian intelligence services, particularly Kilimnik and associates of Oleg Deripaska, represented a grave counterintelligence threat.

[ajax18]

Lying to tell the truth is more common than not for criminal defendants. Most are uneducated with few resources. Manafort was a lawyer and lifelong politician who spent $3 million in attorneys fees to help him fight this battle. He spent 50 hours being grilled by Weissman who routinely lied trying to trip Manafort up or get him to say something in exhaustion that another prosecutor could use against him. Most defendants stand no chance against the prosecution whether guilty or innocent.

[ajax18]

Lying to tell the truth is more common than not for criminal defendants. Most are uneducated with few resources. Manafort was a lawyer and lifelong politician who spent $3 million in attorneys fees to help him fight this battle. He spent 50 hours being grilled by Weissman who routinely lied trying to trip Manafort up or get him to say something in exhaustion that another prosecutor could use against him. Most defendants stand no chance against the prosecution whether guilty or innocent.

[honorentheos]

The special counsel had Cohen as an alternative route to get Trump by now so they were more open to a plea deal as well.

Would you mind sharing the exact language Manafort used here? This is kinda spicy.