Manafort and Gates, were charged with "conspiracy against the United States," "conspiracy to launder money" and other offenses. The two were expected in court in Washington by the afternoon.
The Justice Department indictment on Manafort and Gates contains 12 counts: "conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading FARA statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts."
Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI.
The Manafort and Gates indictment unsealed on Monday morning does not make any reference to Russia's influence campaign against the presidential election, but it does allege extensive financial ties between Manafort and Gates and powerful Ukrainians.
The Papadopoulos materials, on the other hand, detail the many contacts investigators say he had with Russian-linked operatives. He met at least two people, a man and a woman, who the FBI says were working for the Russian government and had boasted to him about the help it could offer the Trump campaign against Clinton.
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Monday October 30 2017, @09:14PM (2 children)
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 30 2017, @09:49PM (1 child)
Long before Trump hired Manafort, the FBI was investigating Manafort for various crimes connected with the Podesta Group. (Note: this is a really weird tie to Hillary via her campaign manager John Podesta) The FBI said nothing when Trump hired Manafort. If anything, the investigation stalled.
Leaked emails show that Hillary's team preferred to face Trump. They actually wanted him to win the primary. Manafort helped Trump win the primary before getting fired.
Manafort got fired at an interesting time. He got the "You're fired!" right after two things happened: Trump secured the nomination, and Trump got his first classified security briefing.
Hmmm.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday October 31 2017, @10:57AM
That really is an interesting observation. "Mr. Candidate, you need to know that your campaign manager is dirty, and we're going to take him down soon." To all public appearances, he did what he was supposed to do, after all.