Mediaboss Marketing

Prosecutors alsoshowed CNN documentation they sent to the DOJ in which they told the US authorities that their investigation had "established that the well-known American political strategist Paul Manafort is implicated in the relationship between the Skadden Arps. firm and the Justice Ministry of Ukraine." Of Manafort, the letter said he "was likely the person who advised representatives of the former Government of Ukraine to hire the law firm and was present during talks about this issue."

Right now, Manafort isnt facing charges in this case but its far from his only legal issue.

Why the United States hasn't moved to make Manafort available to Ukraine under a treaty of mutual assistance is unclear.

The final letter was dated September 2016: Ukraine's Prosecutor General, the equivalent of a US Attorney General, sent a letter directly to FBI director James Comey asking for clarification for why the US authorities would not help.

The actions in question happened before Manafort was Donald Trumps manager, but after he had already picked up a nice apartment inTrump Tower. In fact, its not clear when, or even if, Manaforts associationwith pro-Russian forces in Ukraine ended.Several of Manaforts actions in Ukraine continue to be the subject of potentialattention from courts.

Actions such as arranging proteststhat Putin used as an excuse for invasion.

The senior Ukrainian prosecutor alleges that in 2006 Mr. Manafort orchestrated a series of Anti-Nato, Anti-Kiev protests in Crimea led by Viktor Yanukovychs pro-Russian Party of Regionsnow a designated criminal organisation. The protests forced planned Nato exercises there to be cancelled.

And violating U.S. laws on foreign lobbying:

Donald Trump's campaign chairman helped a pro-Russian governing party in Ukraine secretly route at least $2.2 million in payments to two prominent Washington lobbying firms in 2012, and did so in a way that effectively obscured the foreign political party's efforts to influence U.S. policy.

Andarranging a riot in which U.S. Marines were attacked:

We had rocks thrown at us. Rocks hit Marines. Buses were rocked back and forth. We were just trying to get to our base.

And taking more than $12 millionin off the books cash:

government investigators examining secret records have found his name, as well as companies he sought business with, as they try to untangle a corrupt network they say was used to loot Ukrainian assets and influence elections during the administration of Mr. Manaforts main client, former President Viktor F. Yanukovych.

That last claim is already thought to be at the center of an FBI investigation into Manafort. So perhaps the answer to why wont you let us question Manafort about his second-hand involvement in misappropriating $1 million is because were about to indict him for a lot more than that.

It appears that Manafort may have been blackmailed using knowledge of not justhis under-the-table funds for helping out Russian interests in Ukraine ...

Attached to the text is a note to Paul Manafort referring to bulletproof evidence related to Manaforts financial arrangement with Ukraines former president, the pro-Russian strongman Viktor Yanukovych, as well as an alleged 2012 meeting between Trump and a close Yanukovych associate named Serhiy Tulub.

...but also for arranging a meeting between Donald Trump and a pro-Russian Ukrainian official.

The White House did not respond to a question about whether Trump had met with Tulub, a hunting buddy of Yanukovychs who had served as part of government when Yanukovych was prime minister.

None of this has stopped Manafort from seemingly trying to secure Ukraine for Putin, and hes not the only one on the Trump team working to that end.

The new story explains that a group of Trump operatives, including top lawyer Michael Cohen and fired former campaign manager Paul Manafort, along with a pro-Putin Ukrainian parliamentarian named Andrii V. Artemenko and Mr. Sater are pushing President Trump on a 'peace plan' for Russia and Ukraine.

The ManafortArtemenkoCohen plan ended up on Flynns desk shortly before National Security AdviserMichael Flynn left office, supposedly over his conversations with the Russian ambassador and not his failing to register as a foreign agentwhich Trump already knew about. And of course, Trump himself made sure that the Ukraine remained a soft target for Moscow.

Inside the meeting, Diana Denman, a platform committee member from Texas who was a Ted Cruz supporter, proposed a platform amendment that would call for maintaining or increasing sanctions against Russia, increasing aid for Ukraine and providing lethal defensive weapons to the Ukrainian military.

Trump staffers in the room, who are not delegates but are there to oversee the process, intervened. By working with pro-Trump delegates, they were able to get the issue tabled while they devised a method to roll back the language.

One of those Trump staffers has since been identified asJ. D. Gordon:

The Trump campaign's national-security policy representative for the Republican National Convention, J.D. Gordon, told CNN on Thursday that he pushed to alter an amendment to the GOP's draft policy on Ukraine at the Republican National Convention last year to further align it with President Donald Trump's views.

Note thatits not as if Gordon was acting on his own:

The two Trump staffers claimed to a delegate that they had to call and talk to Mr. Trumpperhaps name-dropping as obnoxious staffers, or perhaps Trump really was involved at the highest level with this particular amendment. The Trump staffers told the delegate that they had discussed Ukraine policy directly with Trump.

Donald Trump, whose level of sophistication on foreign policy comes down to shouting about Sweden because he misheard a story on Fox, has detailed views on the language surrounding wording of how Ukraine should be assisted against Russian forces.

Why would that be?

Continue reading here:
Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort wanted for questioning in Ukraine corruption case - Daily Kos