CNN says that Paul Manafort was wiretapped through the past couple of years under suspicion for his ties to Russia.
The warrants for the wiretaps were obtained through the secret FISA court. One seems to have started in 2014 and ended last year, under concerns about work done by a group of Washington consulting firms for Ukraine’s former ruling party. Then another warrant was obtained that extended into this year, part of the FBI’s efforts to investigate ties between Trump campaign associates and suspected Russian operatives.
Unfortunately,
The FBI wasn’t listening in June 2016, the sources said, when Donald Trump Jr. led a meeting that included Manafort, then campaign chairman, and Jared Kushner, the President’s son-in-law, with a Russian lawyer who had promised negative information on Hillary Clinton.
The anonymous sources are mentioned so many times in this article that I wonder if the reporters have some reservations about them.
Meanwhile, the New York Times was composing a piece about the fearsome tactics of Robert Mueller. That article starts out with the FBI raid on Manafort’s home. Not much new about that, except
The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, then followed the house search with a warning: His prosecutors told Mr. Manafort they planned to indict him, said two people close to the investigation.
The rest of the article is about Mueller’s aggressive tactics, which is interesting, but I have to wonder why the Times put this into an article. It’s background more than news, which is helpful. It’s possible that someone behind the scenes, not necessarily at the Times, thought it was time for a warning.
Paul Manafort In Tonight’s Russiagate NewsPost + Comments (248)