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Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Manafort is Link Between Putin and Trump
The Trump administration continues to suffer from its ties to the Putin regime in Russia. The world has learned that Russian intelligence worked to discredit Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign to the benefit of Mr. Trump. Many of Mr. Trump's confidantes have had close ties to Russian interests, not least of which was short-time NSA Director Michael Flynn who resigned over payments from Russian entities. Now, the Associated Press has revealed that Paul Manafort is the main link between Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump. This will likely get much worse.
Thanks to documents found in Ukraine in an office safe that used to belong to Mr. Manafort (documents which bear his signature) along with his corporate seal and related items, the AP could report:
Manafort proposed in a confidential strategy plan as early as June 2005 that he would influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and the former Soviet republics to benefit the Putin government, even as U.S.-Russia relations under Republican President George W. Bush grew worse. Manafort pitched the plans to Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, a close Putin ally with whom Manafort eventually signed a $10 million annual contract beginning in 2006, according to interviews with several people familiar with payments to Manafort and business records obtained by the AP. Manafort and Deripaska maintained a business relationship until at least 2009, according to one person familiar with the work.
'We are now of the belief that this model can greatly benefit the Putin Government if employed at the correct levels with the appropriate commitment to success,' Manafort wrote in the 2005 memo to Deripaska. The effort, Manafort wrote, 'will be offering a great service that can re-focus, both internally and externally, the policies of the Putin government.'
Manafort's plans were laid out in documents obtained by the AP that included strategy memoranda and records showing international wire transfers for millions of dollars. How much work Manafort performed under the contract was unclear.
That would not be much of an issue, business and political sell-swords can hire themselves out as they please. However, Paul Manafort went on to bigger and better things. CNN noted, "Manafort was hired by the Trump campaign in March 2016 to lead the delegate operation on the floor of the Republican National Committee in Cleveland. Manafort was promoted in May to campaign chairman and chief strategist. And when campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was fired in June, Manafort -- who butted heads with Lewandowski -- was widely seen as the campaign's top official. Manafort is largely credited with securing Trump the Republican nomination, through a mix of deep ties in the Republican establishment and tireless organizing to win the Republican delegate fight which almost derailed Trump one year ago."
White House spokesman Sean Spicer (who is either a bald-faced liar or an ignoramus) said that Mr. Manafort had a "limited role [in the campaign] for a very limited amount of time." If by limited, he meant finite, one might be able to swallow his statement. However, in politics and business the word means insignificant.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) said Mr. Manafort "for a short time worked on the convention." Mr. Nunes was part of the Trump transition team, and so has a dog in the fight.
This journal does not believe there is sufficient legal evidence to say that Mr. Manafort ran the Trump campaign under orders from the Kremlin. What is clear is that a pro-Putin consultant ran Mr. Trump's campaign and convention. Further, his forced resignation from the campaign came about owing to foreign lobbying. The Washington Post wrote at the time, "According to two people familiar with Trump's decision, Trump on Thursday night was given a copy of an Associated Press story about how Manafort's firm had not properly disclosed its foreign lobbying, shortly before taking the stage in North Carolina. Trump 'blew a gasket,' one person said, and told Bannon and others that he should be dismissed."
This is not going to go away.
© Copyright 2017 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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