This week’s indictment of former Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort is certainly serious in that more than $18 million dollars were money laundered, tax laws were circumvented on as much as $75 million in total income and lobbying for the Ukrainian government was deliberately concealed. Manafort and his business associate Rick Gates also lied to investigators to “defraud” the Treasury of taxes due, which resulted in a charge that he had “conspired against the United States.” But it is important to note that the principal charges against Manafort appear to date from before his connection to the Trump campaign and Donald Trump is not mentioned at all in the 31-page indictment.
Also, there is no evidence of collusion with any foreign government to interfere in the 2016 American election, which was what Special Counsel Robert Mueller was originally empowered to focus on. Nor is there any suggestion that Manafort attempted to influence Donald Trump’s views about an appropriate policy in dealing with Russia as well as the unrest in Eastern Europe. So those who were looking for a “smoking gun” against the Trump Administration in the indictment of Manafort will surely be disappointed.
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