PaulâŚPaulâŚitâs like youâre not even trying. Not even going to try to address the (Russian) elephant in the room, huh?
In his defense, I have to assume that Manafort, like Trump, has spent his entire life telling one outrageous whopper after another, and at this point, he may genuinely not know the difference between objective reality and his BS.
Honestly, I donât have the energy for this fuckerâs excuses today. Anyone wanna give the gist of this guyâs official whining? The guy has been on the defensive for a very long time and he seems to be digging himself into a deeper hole at this point. What part of his treasonous acts does this guy fail to comprehend?
So demonstrating you made false statements about major, massively incriminating aspects of the investigation â ones you gambled Mueller didnât know about â after you had agreed to cooperate was just, yâknow, one of those âoopsyâ moments?
I know many laws are written such that intent must be proven to a (sometimes absurd) extent â like when those accused of malfeasance in the 2008 crash all got off because prosecutors basically needed a signed note saying âI hereby intend to commit fraud in the following waysâŚâ. However itâs a very safe bet Manafortâs cooperation agreement is not written that way. The guy is absolutely screwed, and did it to himself.
It was simply a âyouthful indiscretion.â Heâs very, very sorry and heâll never do it again.
My thoughts exactly. Jeez, this is the best he has? Stop digging, Paulie, you have already reached your destination. Dead man walking.
About his only other option now is to put on his Ostrich jacket and bury his head in the sand.
Mueller (and the Judge) would probably find his act more convincing if he hadnât already sold 250% of the stakes for his new jailhouse play Prisoners of Love.
Even Rudy is saying that Paulie may or may not have been lying, but he asked that folks check back in tomorrow and the day after in case he changes his mind. Again.
Rudyâs very amenable. He would even accept hourly check-ins, if they insist. He is in no way desperate to get his face on teevee, heâs just trying to be flexible.
And the sequel âSpringtime for Twittlerâ.
Sure. We believe you, Paulie.
We already know he did.
I thought Manifort was already headed to jail for the rest of his perverted life. What seems to be the holdup? Lock him up. This is done. One more criminal off the street. Our children can be safe.
Love me some TPM, but for the best analysis of all things Russiagate, click on over to Emptywheel, where the brilliant Ms. Wheeler and the likewise commentators will explain the significance of every nuance and legal stratagem.
This is such a moronically wrong take on whatâs actually going on with the Manafort sentencing process.
First, Manafort is unable to ACTULLY âpush backâ on anything, given the terms of the cooperation deal that he signed, at all times with full legal representation plus bearing in mind that he Manafort is actually a lawyer who graduated from a top law school plus Manafort is arguably the single most devious underminer of law alive today in America or perhaps anywhere.
Second, Judge Jackson knows exactly who âwantsâ this fake fight and why they want it:
she knows that Manafort wants it to keep signaling to the Trump legal team what all heâs said to Muellerâs team and what theyâve said to him, IOW Manafort is using this current sentencing process as an extension of the joint defense information sharing agreement, which Manafort is invested entirely in right now because all heâs got left to live for is a presidential pardon.
Meanwhile, as Jackson and anyone following this process realizes, Muellerâs team doesnât need this current fight and could actually end it immediately by just accepting that Jackson will sentence Manafort according to the range both sides agreed to and everyone can move on.
So ask yourself WHY Mueller and the OSC are indulging this meaningless exercise?
Because itâs a great way to get actual evidence out of the OSC and into the public depository. These long redacted pieces from Muellerâs team that have been going to Jackson are NOT REDACTED FOR HER PURPOSES, so therefore the court system has an non-redacted official record of what the OSC has found, all without having to go thru Big Dong Can Whitaker or anyone in Trumpâs world of compromised DoJos. The result is at least as effective as the so-called Jaworsky Road Map Memo of 1974, and in my opinion one hell of a lot better, especially given the cards that Trump controls in this contest.