Can someone please enlighten me as to how entangled Roger Stone is with this investigation? Has he been mentioned as a person of interest for Mueller or something like that? I watched the Roger Stone documentary on Netflix lately, but before that didn’t pay much attention when he was brought up.
The idea of FBI agents waking him up by knocking on his bedroom door is so awesome.
And Mueller’s team has reportedly requested that members of Trump’s presidential transition team preserve all documents and records related to the Russia investigation. Among the individuals specifically named in the request from Mueller, according to The New York Times, are not only Flynn and Manafort, but Carter Page, a former foreign policy aide on Trump’s campaign in 2016, and Roger Stone, the mercurial and talkative Trump ally who’s admitted that he was in contact with the alleged Russian hacking team Guccifer 2.0 at the height of the controversy last summer. A memo from the transition team’s general counsel warned that staffers “have a duty to preserve any physical and electronic records that may be related in any way to the subject matter of the pending investigations,” The Times reported.
It’s always been pretty clear to me that Manafort’s involvement in Ukraine and his connection to Russia there was extremely likely to be dirty, and his presence at junior’s meeting while he was running the campaign was incredibly stupid and apparently illegal. I’m pretty sure they have enough evidence to charge and convict him now with some crimes but that they have evidence of more crimes which they are investigating.
Flynn is also one who could already be charged and convicted right now, but more investigating and or a deal is being done.
Trump Jr could also be charged and convicted right now, but of relatively minor charges and is likely part of a larger investigation into Russian finances.
All of the above, as well as most of the Trump family could also be complicit and profiting from Magnitsky Act violations. I have no idea how serious that could be, but property forfeiture/seizure is a possibility under the act, and collusion to conspire to overturn that act and protect those assets could be a huge factor in this investigation.
I haven’t seen much about Stone and Page thus far, but I would expect that the Russian efforts against the Magnitsky Act during the transition and their roles/illegal contacts during that time are likely under the microscope.
I think it’s almost certain at this point that they are going to find major money laundering on Trump’s behalf.
Remember the leaked text messages from Manaforte’s daughters?
In a series of texts reviewed by Business Insider that appear to have been sent by Andrea to her sister, Jessica, in March 2015, Andrea said their father had “no moral or legal compass.”
“Don’t fool yourself,” Andrea wrote to her sister, according to the texts. “That money we have is blood money.”
“You know he has killed people in Ukraine? Knowingly,” she continued, according to the reviewed texts. "As a tactic to outrage the world and get focus on Ukraine. Remember when there were all those deaths taking place. A while back. About a year ago. Revolts and what not.
Those are amazing.
I think it likely as well, but there hasn’t been much concrete evidence of it public as yet. I think it’s possible that the only way Trump survived the market collapse was Russian money, some legal but most shady, and some illegal. I do think that Mueller’s team will find it if it’s there, and we’ll hear about it if they deem it relevant.
I’ll also grant the chance that they deem it irrelevant to their charge,but that the NY DA doesn’t.
Just for laughs, imagine if among the full decade of Hillary’s campaign manager’s communications that were leaked had an exchange anything like this:
John Podesta’s Daughter: “He has no moral or legal compass. He is a sick fucking tyrant. Don’t fool yourself, that money we have is blood money. You know he has killed people in Ukraine? Knowingly?”
But Trump? It’s cool.
Podesta wanted to get some pizza and they turned it into a pedophile conspiracy theory.
So… no I can’t imagine because… pedophile conspiracy theory. From ordering pizza.
I sure hope so. I think proving the money laundering is going to be one of the hardest things. I’m guessing there is a some details that you really need a witness to figure out. (The bill were in false bottoms of the chicken wing bucket and the smell of money was masked by the 19 secret herbs and spices).
Interesting. The timing aligns with the beginning of his birther attacks on Obama.
It doesn’t really work this way.
If they find evidence of crimes, Mueller will push for their prosecution. It’d be illegal for him to ignore them.
I think that’s been noted in the press. I remember reading an article that lined up where Trump probably got the Russian money with all his interest in attacking Obama.
Also, the underlying money laundering / shady dealings with the Russians are quite relevant to the issue of Russian interference in the 2016 campaign. They go to the issue of the underlying motivations for the Russians to be involved with Trump, for Trump to be involved with the Russians, the nature of the relationship and communication between Trump, his organization, and the Russians, etc. There are people on the Right who are saying or implying that crimes committed before 2016 can’t be connected to the 2016 election interference and that’s just completely wrong, legally speaking. When you have a long relationship, the history of the relationship, including prior joint criminal acts, is very much relevant to the conspiracy that is targeted for investigation.
They also could establish (further) violations of the emoluments clause of the Constitution.
Now, that would actually be outside the scope of Mueller’s investigation, most likely.
Not really… the scope of his investigation just establishes where he might look for stuff. But it doesn’t pre-specify what crimes he can then push for indictment on.
If he finds ANY crime in the course of his investigation, he’s obligated to deal with it.
Trump’s problem here is that the scope of the investigation clearly involves Trump’s finances. If Russia interfered, it’s absolutely reasonable to think that some money changed hands… but if he finds any financial wrongdoing, even if it has nothing to do with Russia at all, Mueller can push to indict him.
This is how Ken Star ultimately got Clinton for perjury about a blowjob, while investigating a land deal from 30 years prior.
Mueller’s team of investigators has sent subpoenas in recent weeks from a Washington grand jury to global banks for account information and records of transactions involving Manafort and some of his companies, as well as those of a long-time business partner, Rick Gates, according to people familiar with the matter.
The special counsel has also reached out to other business associates, including Manafort’s son-in-law and a Ukrainian oligarch, according to one of the people. Those efforts were characterized as an apparent attempt to gain information that could be used to squeeze Manafort, or force him to be more helpful to prosecutors.
Manafort’s spokesman confirmed that FBI agents raided the political consultant’s home in Virginia two weeks ago to secure documents related to the investigation. That raid was initially reported by the Washington Post.