The Canadian Press
Alexander Panetta
WASHINGTON–The Russia investigation struck its first blows against Donald Trump’s presidency in a one-two punch yesterday.
His former campaign manager was arrested on numerous charges while a lower-level adviser has admitted to communicating with intermediaries of the Putin government about stolen e-mails, has pleaded guilty to lying about it, and now is co-operating with authorities.
The day began with ex-campaign manager Paul Manafort surrendering to authorities as he and another senior campaign aide were slapped with a dozen criminal charges, including conspiracy against the United States, money-laundering, failing to register as a foreign agent, and lying to police.
The president seized on the fact that most of the alleged crimes occurred before he announced his presidential run.
“Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign,” he tweeted.
“Why aren’t Crooked Hillary (Clinton) & the (Democrats) the focus?????”
A moment later, the next shoe dropped.
A subsequent announcement from special investigator Robert Mueller’s office was about events that, indeed, occurred during the campaign, did pertain to contacts with Russia, and specifically involved conversations about high-ranking officials and illicitly-obtained Hillary Clinton e-mails.
The office announced a foreign-policy campaign adviser to Trump was arrested three months ago, confessed this month as part of a plea deal, and now is co-operating with federal authorities as part of the expanding probe.
“Special counsel Mueller appears to have a co-operating witness,” tweeted former New York prosecutor Preet Bharara, recently fired by Trump.
“That is significant. Time will tell how significant.”
That witness is George Papadopoulos.
He has pleaded guilty to lying to police about events from the spring of 2016.
They involved communications with a Russian professor with high-ranking ties to the Putin government, and with a woman he described in an e-mail as “[Vladimir] Putin’s niece.”
Papadopoulos held meetings in Europe and repeatedly communicated with these people.
Some of the communications involved setting up a Trump visit to Moscow in the hope of improving U.S.-Russia relations.
But some involved more shadowy political co-operation.
