This quote from Joyce Vance regarding Manafort’s lies seems to be the kicker -
“It was likely more than one lie and this would not have been a minor detail — it had to be something material and significant and intentional.”
Questions about what kinds of misinformation that Manafort could be promoting?
If Manafort is ultimately protecting T, then whatever lie he told Mueller has to be along those lines, deny any T involvement in coordination/collusion/conspiracy with the Russians in order to get a pardon.
If Manafort is protecting himself from Russian retribution, and he doesn’t care what it takes to bluff his way through Mueller’s questions, and he’s just saved himself a boatload of money on lawyers he didn’t have to pay for the additional trial. He is just not going to sing.
But we already know a lot of what Mueller’s probably got in his legal files.
a) Did Trump know nothing of Russians helping in the election? (see Don Jr’s call to T during the Russian/Trump Tower meeting - must have been confirmed by Mueller)
b) All the money coming in from Russians see @Keaton_James input #day 669 Link to suspicious Russian Payola
c) Cambridge Analytica…who coordinated that data to help narrow down the political race for T? Money was exchanged, Russians were supporting those efforts.
d) Who was aware of what T might have promised the Russians in return for helping him win the election?
e) What is Gates telling Mueller? - apparently he’s talking Or Flynn - is he a full participant, or someone like Manafort is only play acting?
f) all of the above and a lot of other corroborating evidence that Mueller has collected
Article excerpt
Mr. Trump’s lawyers responded last week to questions Mr. Mueller had for the president about ties between his campaign and Russia. Among the questions were inquiries about what Mr. Trump knew about Russian offers to Mr. Manafort during the campaign to assist Mr. Trump’s presidential run. The president’s lawyers have declined to discuss what he told Mr. Mueller, and it is not clear whether any of his answers conflicted with what Mr. Manafort told investigators.
Mr. Manafort’s allies have hoped that his sessions with the special counsel would end soon so he could be sentenced and transferred to a federal prison, where conditions are comparatively better than in a local jail. At a recent court hearing in Alexandria, Mr. Manafort came into the courtroom in a wheelchair, his foot wrapped in a white bandage, possibly from an attack of gout.
But few of Mr. Manafort’s friends predicted that his sentencing would be hastened by prosecutors declaring him to be a liar. The development stunned some people close to the White House, as well as legal experts.
“Everybody who lies to Mueller gets called on it — so he had to know that Mueller would catch him. So the question is: What was he hiding that is worse than going to jail for the rest of your life?” said Joyce Vance, a professor of law at the University of Alabama law school and former federal prosecutor. “There are often rocky dealings with a cooperator, and Mueller didn’t cut bait at the first sign of trouble. It was likely more than one lie and this would not have been a minor detail — it had to be something material and significant and intentional.”
