Discussion: Gates Describes Manafort’s ‘Substantially Decreased’ Financial Situation In 2015

Looking forward to yet more substantial decreases for the rest of the Trump Crime Family.

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Prosecutors showed emails between Gates and Konstantin Kilimnik in August 2015 as they attempted to get payment from the Opposition Bloc party for the work.

I hope he wasn’t surprised when payment was not forthcoming.

From the Reagan era all the way to Trump, Manafort’s Republican Party has not paid its bills.

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What? Surely someone would have willingly paid him not to wear those hideous jackets.

And for a “brilliant” political consultant, not so brilliant. His Ukrainian client gets run out of his own country and Manafort loses his cash cow in the process. He then lands with Trump where he openly conspired with Russia in that infamous June meeting. Committing federal crimes is not brilliant, but I suppose that’s the mentality you bring when your previous clients have all been dictators and thugs.

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If you substitute the word drugs for money in all of the Manafort stories his behavior becomes much more understandable.

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He worked for Spanky for free with the expectation that he could turn his contacts into more lucrative consulting gigs. His past caught up with him before he could cash it in. He might have pulled it off if Spanky had not fired Comey. and attracted attention to the swamp of Repug corruption. The movie Labyrinth, with David Bowie, had a bog of everlasting stench, the smell of which could never be removed once it got on you. Everyone associated with Trump is bathing in that bog, may they forever reek.

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We are beginning to see the emergence of yet another money trail leading to the 16’ campaign…and after the judge declared this trial wasnt about russia…

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Indications in the courtroom seem to suggest that the Regan-appointed judge is an ego-maniac with a bias toward Manafort and the oligarchs.

Maybe the bribes have already been paid.

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Once more we ask, georgeh, who writes your stuff?

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? I do. You been following the trial? Just 2 examples:

"Judge Ellis got frustrated with some of the questions Andres asked Gates throughout the afternoon, specifically about his Ukraine work. Ellis repeatedly scolded and raised his voice with Andres as they discussed the necessity of certain areas of inquiry, such as the stamps on Gates’ passport showing his travels of Ukraine.

“Let’s get to the heart of the matter,” Ellis growled.

“We are at the heart of the matter,” Andres shot back.

“Just listen to me!” Ellis shouted at the prosecutor. "

And:

Judge Ellis got frustrated with some of the questions Andres asked Gates throughout the afternoon, specifically about his Ukraine work. Ellis repeatedly scolded and raised his voice with Andres as they discussed the necessity of certain areas of inquiry, such as the stamps on Gates’ passport showing his travels of Ukraine.

“Let’s get to the heart of the matter,” Ellis growled.

“We are at the heart of the matter,” Andres shot back.

“Just listen to me!” Ellis shouted at the prosecutor.

I thought your spell checker might have substituted “ludicrous” for “lucrative”. But ludicrous works, too, based on the evidence presented at the trial.

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Wow! Bribes everywhere!

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I meant lucrative and I changed it but ludicrous works also.

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Prosecutors showed emails between Gates and Konstantin Kilimnik in August 2015 as they attempted to get payment from the Opposition Bloc party for the work.

“This is to calm Paul down,” Kilimnik said in one of the emails.

You know, there are medications for that that are completely legal.

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And when he wouldn’t calm down, Putin ordered Trump to terminate him.

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What “work” did these people do for these despots exactly? What does consulting for puppet regimes actually entail?

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The Russian Oligarchs have millions to throw around. You think bribing a judge is outside the realm possibility?

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In light of this testimony I’m left really wondering: why isn’t Manafort additionally charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act?

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I have been unpleasantly surprised that there are a number on this forum who admire the snakeskin jacket - so disheartening.

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Apparently a lot of it involves reputation laundering. You use your old contacts to get the despots or their surrogates meetings with Very Serious People, you organize conferences and think tanks that produce papers and studies showing what good things the despots are doing and how evil their opponents are. You get Respected Academics or pundits to write op eds decrying US or European refusal to recognize the despots as legitimate rulers.

Oh, yeah, and some of it involves helping track down opposition types so they can be killed.

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