Trump’s tweets after Manafort and Gates’s indictments. Then 90 minutes later, news of George Papadopoulos’s guilty plea broke (guilty of lying to the FBI about a meeting in London to get ‘dirt’ on Hillary Clinton). Trump has not tweeted after that today.
Well: ex-campaign manager Paul Manafort and associate Rick Gates were indicted today, on conspiracy, money laundering, foreign agent and false statement charges. They had to hand their passports in, and they are under house arrest. Manafort’s bail money was set at $10 million.
A third name made even bigger news: that of campaign staffer George Papadopoulos that had already plead guilty to lying to the FBI, about a meeting in London with a Russian contact to obtain ‘dirt’ about Hillary Clinton (her hacked e-mails). An ex-FBI agent said today the ‘significance of this evidence can almost not be overstated’.
The man circled in red is George Papadopoulos, seen in a Trump campaign photo of 2016. In the other picture Paul Manafort is on the left and Richard Gates on the right. Manafort is 68 years old, splurged money on home improvements, antique rugs, clothes, cars – but could now spend the rest of his life in jail if he is found guilty of the allegations against him. It appears he was in a lot of financial trouble, and looked to use his position as Trump campaign manager, to get closer to Russian oligarchs.
