Manafort: Simply a dirty business operator connected to Trump, another dirty operator, like hundreds of thousands in America, his indictment part of a propaganda witch-hunt organised by the Deep State with the Democrats as battering rams and their whore media providing the hysterical megaphone. Many of the allegations relate to events that took place long before there was a Trump candidacy. Not to mention that doing business—crooked or not—with Russia or any other country is not a political crime.
On Monday, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates were indicted on multiple charges - unrelated to Trump and Russia.
Media scoundrels suggested otherwise by deplorable headlines, having most impact on readers, television reports just as deplorable, insinuating Russia/Trump connections, continuing the disgraceful drumbeat begun last year. Manafort’s lawyer, Kevin Downing, called charges against his client “ridiculous,” adding:
“I think you all saw today that President Donald Trump was correct: There is no evidence that Mr. Manafort or the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government.”
Spokesman for Rick Gates, Glenn Selig, said he “welcomes the opportunity to confront these charges in court. This fight is just beginning.”
In early October, George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign foreign policy advisor, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about 2016 contacts in Russia, relating to leaked DNC/Hillary emails. The charge against him said he “made material false statements and material omissions during an interview with the Federal Bureau of Investigation that took place on January 27, 2017.” He allegedly mislead the investigators “about the timing, extent and nature of his relationships and interactions with certain foreign nationals whom he understood to have close connections with senior Russian government officials.” He had communications with an “overseas professor” and others, alleged to have connections to Russian Foreign Ministry officials.
Meetings he reportedly tried arranging between them and Trump campaign officials never occurred - nor is there evidence that Russia obtained “dirt” on Hillary. None of the above information suggests collusion between Trump and Russia to help him defeat Hillary. Accusations otherwise are bogus. White House lawyer Ty Cobb said the Trump administration “continues to fully cooperate with the special counsel regardless of indictments.”
Hillary’s spokesman said she had no immediate comment. Undemocratic Dems disgraced themselves.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said “(e)ven with an accelerating special counsel investigation inside the Justice Department, and investigations inside the Republican Congress, we still need an outside, fully independent investigation to expose Russia’s meddling in our election and the involvement of Trump officials” - even though no evidence suggests it, she failed to explain.
Media scoundrels reacted as expected, jumping on the chance to insinuate or claim Trump team/Russia collusion.
NYT editors headlined “Is the White House Scared Yet?”
A deplorable commentary headlined “Plot Against America.” Others headlined:
“Why George Papadopoulos Is More Dangerous Than Paul Manafort”
“Paul Manafort, and the Weakness of Trump”
WaPo was especially outrageous, publishing nine commentaries, suggesting Trump/Russia collusion. They headlined:
“Trump tries out his insanity defense”
“A Manafort nothingburger is now on the menu”
“The bombshell in Robert Mueller’s indictments”
“Did Russia teach Paul Manafort all its dirty tricks?”
“Seems like everyone’s colluding with Russia now”
“Don’t overlook the Kremlin’s threats to our courts”
“To what circle of hell are Republicans about to consign themselves?”
“What a presidential president would have said about Mueller’s indictments”
“These are the facts of the Russia investigation, and they are not in dispute”
All of the above were in WaPo’s latest edition - likely much more coming from all US media scoundrels, jumping on the chance to bash Trump for the wrong reasons, vilifying Russia at the same time. The deplorable state of America’s media would make Joseph Goebbels envious. Its megaphone outclasses his best propaganda efforts, losing its effectiveness when Hitler’s war machine began getting smashed.
Will America face the same Waterloo? Are things too far gone to change? Will US-launched nuclear war kill us all, trying to save its crumbling empire?
STEPHEN LENDMAN was born in 1934 in Boston, MA. In 1956, he received a BA from Harvard University. Two years of US Army service followed, then an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1960. After working seven years as a marketing research analyst, he joined the Lendman Group family business in 1967. He remained there until retiring at year end 1999. Writing on major world and national issues began in summer 2005. In early 2007, radio hosting followed. Lendman now hosts the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network three times weekly. Distinguished guests are featured. Listen live or archived. Major world and national issues are discussed. Lendman is a 2008 Project Censored winner and 2011 Mexican Journalists Club international journalism award recipient. His new site is at http://stephenlendman.orgSTEPHEN LENDMAN—Manafort: Simply a dirty business operator connected to Trump, another dirty operator, like hundreds of thousands in America, his indictment part of a propaganda witch-hunt organised by the Deep State with the Democrats as battering rams and their whore media providing the hysterical megaphone. Many of the allegations relate to events that took place long before there was a Trump candidacy. Not to mention that doing business—crooked or not—with Russia or any other country is not a political crime.
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I had expected the charges against Manafort and Gates to be spun into the Russian Tale, of course, as media had already decided that the testimony would prove the elusive “Russian collusion.” It didn’t matter that none of this had anything to do with Russia. This is just the state of contemporary journalism. This issue was already framed by media, from NBC to online liberal publications, as the key to providing proof of that “Russian meddling.” They zealously concentrate on reciting key words and phrases (“Russian meddling,” “collusion,” etc.) as frequently as they had recited the phrase, “Iraq’s stockpiles of… Read more »