As expected, special prosecutor Robert Mueller filed federal indictments against President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and his assistant Rick Gates.
Manafort and Gates were indicted for lying about their ties to Russia and Manafort specifically for concealing payments he received as an advisor to the Russian government.
In other words, Manafort is indicted for white collar crimes such as money laundering and income tax evasion.
Additionally, George Papadopoulos, an early advisor in Trump’s campaign, plead guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about a contact with a Russian professor who had ties to Russian officials.
The indictments don’t mention the time Manafort spent working on President Donald Trump’s campaign for 2 months in 2016. The indictments also don’t mention any collusion between Trump and the Russians.
The charges are the first to result from Mueller’s ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Some Republicans say the indictments are a distraction from the Hillary Clinton Russian uranium deal that netted Clinton’s foundation $145 million in donations that she did not report publicly as required by law.
The calls are growing louder for Mueller to resign after new developments reveal that he was involved in Clinton’s deal to supply U.S. uranium to the Russians.
“[S]pecial counsel Robert Mueller will never be able to untangle the tangled webs with any credibility and needs to step aside,” the NY Post writes in an article titled, “Robert Mueller should resign”.
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