Remember back in March when then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer tried to sell us on the notion that Paul Manafort "played a very limited role" in the Trump campaign, for which Manafort served as chairman?
Yet in CNN's Monday night scoop that the FBI obtained FISA warrants to wiretap Manafort not once, but twice, we learn this:
The government snooping continued into early this year, including a period when Manafort was known to talk to President Donald Trump.
Keep this in mind moving forward: Manafort was hired by Trump in late March 2016 and he left in mid-August the same year—about five months overall, including two in which Manafort served as Trump's de facto campaign manager.
So Manafort quit working for the campaign in August 2016, but he was still talking to Trump earlier this year after Trump took the oath of office. About what, pray tell?
Trump also tried to distance himself from Manafort after news broke last month that the FBI had raided his home in July. Here's Trump on August 10, just after the raid report dropped:
“I know Mr. Manafort – I haven’t spoken to him in a long time, but I know him. He was with the campaign, as you know, for a very short period of time, relatively short period of time.”
Very short ... very limited. Very.
Another nugget to keep in mind: the New York Times reported Monday that special counsel Robert Mueller was using very aggressive investigative tactics "to strike terror in the hearts of people in Washington," according to Solomon Wisenberg, who served as deputy independent counsel during the investigation into President Bill Clinton.
“You want people saying to themselves, ‘Man, I had better tell these guys the truth.’”
The Russia probe very much appears to be doing just that. Not only have Spicey and Trump been trying to disentangle themselves from Manafort's web, but White House aides are apparently operating in an atmosphere of fear and suspicion.
The uncertainty has grown to the point that White House officials privately express fear that colleagues may be wearing a wire to surreptitiously record conversations for Mr. Mueller.