Seth AbramsonVerified account @SethAbramson 43m43 minutes ago
Did you think it suspicious the Russians were *so* keen to say Manafort paid no attention at the 6/9 meeting? Me too.
2) "He was looking at his cell the whole time"? What sort of pathetic cover is that for the *rapt attention* he almost certainly was paying?
3) And don't forget media reports that Manafort called Priebus a week before the inauguration to tell Trump to "use what he had" on Clinton.
4) Sounds like an admission to me the Trump campaign received stolen property (i.e., Russian-stolen data) and that Manafort was a point man.
5) Now that Trump has fired Priebus, how quickly do you think Mueller is going to have him under oath asking about that call with Manafort?
6) [bold]We know from reports from two days ago that Mueller has an whole "Manafort team" in his operation. A whole team for one guy? Interesting.[/bold]
7) I think very soon we'll learn that the key question in the Russia probe is this: Will Paul Manafort snitch on others to protect himself?
8) Don wasn't part of the campaign—he didn't run the June 9 meet. Manafort, the Campaign Manager, did. After Jared suddenly excused himself.
9) Jared slinking out of what was obviously a key meet underscores it was dirty—the "Manafort on cell" line tells you Manafort ran the meet.
10) The idea Don would run a meeting for a campaign he didn't work on while Manafort noodled on his phone and Jared slunk out is just crazy.
11) Want to judge Manafort's willingness to lie? Well, before the RNC he lied on national TV about Russian meetings AND about their content.
12) The Russian op went live just after Manafort took over the Trump campaign, and Manafort orchestrated the Kislyak meet at the Mayflower.
13) Manafort had been living in Trump Tower for years—the idea Trump wanted Manafort to run his campaign and had idea of his past is lunacy.
14) So Slate's right to ask, in effect, "In a media environment that's allegedly wall-to-wall Russia, why isn't it wall-to-wall *Manafort*?"
15)[bold] If I wanted to—and allowing anonymous but reliable sourcing for major-media reports—I could tell the "collusion via Manafort" story NOW[/bold].
16) Manafort's past; and what he did as campaign manager; and what he did after; and what Mueller has now is a COMPLETE collusion narrative.
17) Someone will tell the full story soon—Manafort at Trump Tower; the Mayflower Hotel; the RNC lies; the call to Priebus; the foreign cash.
18) The moment I saw Mueller had an entire team dedicated just to Manafort's activities, his status as not just target but TARGET was clear.
19) I know millions of Americans saw Manafort on TV that first time and said, "Why, he's just a cartoon criminal!" You may have been right.
20) My advice: double-down on following any news stories—even very old ones—about minor points of Manafort's activities. It'll MATTER. {end}
PS) [bold]Yes, as some of you have said, the only way "Manafort on cell" makes sense is if it was an open line... with Mr. Trump on the other end.[/bold]
