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Paul Manafort is many things. Besides being a PR fixer to Russian Oligarchs, he has now been caught red-handed conspiring with Russian agent Kilimnik (whose alias is the Guy from the GRU.)
These new details of Manafort handing off internal Trump Polling data to the GRU Guy, kind of puts all these Trump Tweets about how “strong” Manafort was being, in a brand new light …
In the light of a Kingpin backing his top Lieutenant.
[...] when it appeared in public filings today, the document was filled with redactions. Or at least, it was supposed to be. But as Daily Mail U.S. political editor David Martosko quickly pointed out, Manafort’s lawyers only blacked out the text. They failed to turn the submitted PDF into an image.
From the accidentally unredacted text, filed by Manafort’s lawyers today, who were trying to explain “why Manafort lied” to Investigators, in the midst of the plea deal:
During a proffer meeting held with the Special Counsel on September 11, 2018, Mr. Manafort explained to the Government attorneys and investigators that he would have given the Ukrainian peace plan more thought, had the issue not been raised during the period he was engaged with work related to the presidential campaign.
Issues and communications related to Ukrainian political events simply were not at the fore front of Mr. Manafort’s mind during the period at issue and it is not surprising at all that Mr. Manafort was unable to recall specific details prior to having his recollection refreshed. The same is true with regard to the Government’s allegation that Mr. Manafort lied about sharing polling data with Mr. Kilimnik related to the 2016 presidential campaign.
[emphasis added] assets.documentcloud.org
Now what in the world would GRU agents — who were conducting “targeted” Social Media disinformation warfare — ever DO with such detailed internal Polling data?
My fellow concerned citizens, I think the Conspiracy “Witch Hunt” has finally been found its culprits.
Especially considering, while on ‘Trump company time’ Manafort flew to Madrid Spain to deliver the data goods personally himself.
(After being told that Mr. had traveled to Madrid on the same day that Mr. Manafort was in Madrid, Mr. Manafort “acknowledged” that he and Mr. Kilimnik met while they were both in Madrid)
[emphasis added] assets.documentcloud.org
Ooops. There goes the ball game. Madrid has become the New Prague.
The brand-new “acknowledged” secret hand-off location with the Russians, too.
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About that Intro Photo … with Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, Kilimnik’s boss:
[...]
Sometime in the mid-2000s, Deripaska [The Metals Magnate] connected with a Russian named Konstantin Kilimnik, whose education at Russia's Military University for Foreign Languages has led to speculation that he is employed by intelligence agencies, something he has denied.
Kilimnik began working for Manafort in 2005, when Manafort was representing Rinat Akhmetov, a Ukrainian oligarch who was said to be a financier of the Party of Regions of Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine's president from 2010 until mass unrest forced him from office in February 2014.
Reports from a "black ledger" in Ukraine indicating millions of dollars in payments were directed from Yanukovych's party to Manafort contributed to his exit from the Trump election campaign in August 2016.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that Manafort proposed a plan in June 2005 to Deripaska that was aimed at influencing politics, business dealings, and news coverage across the United States, Europe, and the former Soviet Union in ways that would favor Putin. The AP report, published in March, said Manafort eventually signed a contract worth $10 million with Deripaska. He had a business relationship with him until at least 2009.
www.rferl.org — Sept 22, 2017
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Secret Ledger in Ukraine Lists Cash for Donald Trump’s Campaign Chief
by Andrew E. Kramer, Mike McIntire and Barry Meier, NYTimes — Aug. 14, 2016
[...]
The papers, known in Ukraine as the “black ledger,” are a chicken-scratch of Cyrillic covering about 400 pages taken from books once kept in a third-floor room in the former Party of Regions headquarters on Lipskaya Street in Kiev. The room held two safes stuffed with $100 bills, said Taras V. Chornovil, a former party leader who was also a recipient of the money at times. He said in an interview that he had once received $10,000 in a “wad of cash” for a trip to Europe.
“This was our cash,” he said, adding that he had left the party in part over concerns about off-the-books activity. “They had it on the table, stacks of money, and they had lists of who to pay.”
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau, which obtained the ledger, said in a statement that Mr. Manafort’s name appeared 22 times in the documents over five years, with payments totaling $12.7 million. The purpose of the payments is not clear. Nor is the outcome, since the handwritten entries cannot be cross-referenced against banking records, and the signatures for receipt have not yet been verified.
Manafort claimed innocence, straining all credulity at the time.
Well at least Donald Trump is still claiming Manafort’s strong “innocence” — for whatever that’s worth. Trump’s idea of a “stand-up guy”.
However, it kind of looks like Manafort, may be more worried about owing the Russian Mob money,
— than owing Donald Trump loyalty,
— than owing Robert Mueller honesty and cooperation.
Could be.
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