Friday Open Thread | Robert Mueller served Paul Manafort with 7 search warrants in March

Posted on April 6, 2018 by SouthernGirl2

Special counsel prosecutors revealed in court filings Thursday night that they had obtained on March 9 seven new search warrants against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who has been charged with more than 30 counts of bank fraud, making false statements to investigators and other charges in two criminal cases. Manafort pleaded not guilty.

The court documents list search warrants against various properties, a storage unit, bank accounts, email addresses and devices. The warrants are not terribly surprising, reports CBS News’ Paula Reid, as Manafort is charged in two criminal cases and investigators have signaled they may bring additional charges as they look to pressure him to cooperate.

Manafort is accused of lobbying and doing other work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine headed by ousted Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. They are accused of failing to register as foreign agents representing the Ukrainians and also allegedly laundered up to $75 million in payments. The activities date from 2006 through February 2017.

In March, he was charged with secretly paying European politicans to lobby politicians on behalf of Ukraine.

Manafort’s business associate Rick Gates pleaded guilty in February on charges of conspiring against the U.S. and of making false statements to the federal government.

About SouthernGirl2

A Native Texan who adores baby kittens, loves horses, rodeos, pomegranates, & collect Eagles. Enjoys politics, games shows, & dancing to all types of music. Loves discussing and learning about different cultures. A Phi Theta Kappa lifetime member with a passion for Social & Civil Justice.
This entry was posted in 2016 Elections, Current Events, News, Open Thread, Politics, Russia and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

61 Responses to Friday Open Thread | Robert Mueller served Paul Manafort with 7 search warrants in March

  1. Liza says:
    April 6, 2018 at 6:06 pm

    Stock market closing today:

    DJIA
    -572.46 (-2.34%)
    23,932.76

    NASDAQ
    -161.44 (-2.28%)
    6,915.11

    S&P 500
    -58.37 (-2.19%)
    2,604.47

    Reply
  2. rikyrah says:
    April 6, 2018 at 3:19 pm

    uh huh
    uh huh

    Department Of Homeland Security Compiling Database Of Journalists And ‘Media Influencers’

    Michelle Fabio , CONTRIBUTOR

    In today’s installment of “I’m Not Terrified, You Are,” Bloomberg Law reports on a FedBizOpps.gov posting by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with the relatively benign-sounding subject “Media Monitoring Services.”

    The details of the attached Request for Information, however, outline a plan to gather and monitor the public activities of media professionals and influencers and are enough to cause nightmares of constitutional proportions, particularly as the freedom of the press is under attack worldwide.

    And “attack” is not hyperbolic.

    Every day, journalists face serious consequences including physical violence, imprisonment and death. A few days ago, the Committee to Protect Journalists launched its annual Free The Press campaign to raise awareness about imprisoned journalists throughout the world. On May 3, UNESCO will once again mark World Press Freedom Day “to inform citizens of violations of press freedom — a reminder that in dozens of countries around the world, publications are censored, fined, suspended and closed down, while journalists, editors and publishers are harassed, attacked, detained and even murdered.”

    Meanwhile, the United States government, traditionally one of the bastions of press freedom, is about to compile a list of professional journalists and “top media influencers,” which would seem to include bloggers and podcasters, and monitor what they’re putting out to the public.

    What could possibly go wrong? A lot.

    Reply
  3. Liza says:
    April 6, 2018 at 2:20 pm

    APRIL 6, 2018
    Wall Street falls 2 percent following remarks by Fed’s Powell

    NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks extended losses and the S&P 500 hit a session low in Friday afternoon trading after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank will likely need to keep raising interest rates to keep inflation under control.

    In a speech in Chicago on the U.S. economic outlook, Powell said the labor market appeared close to full employment. It was his first speech on the economic outlook since taking over as chairman on Feb. 5.
    …
    All S&P main indexes were down sharply, but industrials, financials, energy and materials sectors led the declines, with S&P industrials .SPLRCI down 2.7 percent.

    Fears of a trade war since Trump announced tariffs on steel and aluminum imports more than a month ago have kept investors on edge over concerns that such protectionist measures would hit global economic growth.

    “It’s a reaction to concerns about the administration’s approach to trade. The market has vacillated between writing it off as just talk and assuming there could be a serious problem,” said Rick Meckler, president of investment firm LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.
    …
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks/wall-street-falls-2-percent-following-remarks-by-feds-powell-idUSKCN1HD1JV

    Reply
  4. rikyrah says:
    April 6, 2018 at 2:14 pm

    #BREAKING: Facebook to require all political ads to be labeled, sourced

    — AFP news agency (@AFP) April 6, 2018

    Reply
  5. rikyrah says:
    April 6, 2018 at 2:12 pm

    Trump to reportedly meet evangelical leaders to discuss Stormy Daniels
    Meeting will address concerns on how the midterms will be affected by Trump’s divisive style and alleged affairs, according to sources

    Evangelical leaders are planning a meeting with Donald Trump in June following continuing developments in the scandal over his alleged affair with pornographic actor Stormy Daniels, it was reported on Friday.

    Four anonymous sources told radio network NPR that the meeting was intended to address concerns about how the midterms might be affected both by the president’s divisive leadership style and his alleged sex scandals.

    As well as the claims by Daniels – real name Stephanie Clifford – former Playboy model Karen McDougal has claimed an affair with Trump.

    The president on Thursday denied knowing about a $130,000 payment his lawyer, Michael Cohen, made to Daniels to buy her silence.

    When asked why Cohen made the payment, Trump said: “You’ll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. You’ll have to ask Michael.”

    Reply
    • vitaminlover says:
      April 6, 2018 at 10:42 pm

      He can meet with all the evangelical leaders he wants , he is still a clown and a fool and a joke.

      Reply
  6. rikyrah says:
    April 6, 2018 at 2:10 pm

    UH HUH
    UH HUH

    Meet Benjamin Sparks, Would-Be Slave Owner
    By Josh Marshall | April 5, 2018 6:53 pm

    35 year old Benjamin Sparks, a prominent Republican political consultant who has worked for Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and Scott Walker among others, was engaged to an unnamed woman. Sparks had his fiance sign a five page contract in which she agreed to be his “slave and property,” shortly after they started dating last November. This involved kneeling, looking at the ground while she spoke to him, being nude at all time, engaging in sex on demand at any time and wearing a collar. At the end of March he began to demand that she have sex with other men, while bound and blindfolded, while he watched. She refused. That led to a fight in which he allegedly attacked her. Sparks himself then called the police and then fled the scene. He apparently absconded to Texas where he is currently hiding out while there is a warrant for his arrest in Nevada.

    Reply
  7. rikyrah says:
    April 6, 2018 at 1:59 pm

    Dow down 722!

    Reply
  8. SouthernGirl2 says:
    April 6, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    No, whites were not here first, moron. White Europeans invaded Native land and committed genocide to steal the land and then they traveled to the continent of Africa and kidnapped Black people to enslave them b/c they wanted to obtain wealth but were too lazy to do the work themselves.

    https://twitter.com/donnie1941/status/982268242184957952

    Reply
  10. rikyrah says:
    April 6, 2018 at 1:04 pm

    As He Promised, Trump Will Gift Syria to Putin
    by Martin Longman
    April 6, 2018

    Far from effecting the overtly promised removal of the Russian sanctions and unable to stop his own government from cracking down on the oligarchs, I think Donald Trump is desperate at this point to produce a deliverable to Vladimir Putin. It’s not a good look:

    Trump’s desire for a rapid withdrawal [from Syria] faced unanimous opposition from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pentagon, the State Department and the intelligence community, all of which argued that keeping the 2,000 U.S. soldiers currently in Syria is key to ensuring the Islamic State does not reconstitute itself.

    But as they huddled in the Situation Room, the president was vocal and vehement in insisting that the withdrawal be completed quickly if not immediately, according to five administration officials briefed on Tuesday’s White House meeting of Trump and his top aides…

    …Documents presented to the president included several pages of possibilities for staying in, but only a brief description of an option for full withdrawal that emphasized significant risks and downsides, including the likelihood that Iran and Russia would take advantage of a U.S. vacuum.

    Ultimately, Trump chose that option anyway.

    Two days ago, I wrote about my discomfort with watching a president who wants to end a military conflict getting pushback from the national security establishment. In other circumstances, I’d take the president’s side and fight for him like a cornered wolverine. But this is not a normal situation, and Trump isn’t a representative of withdrawal on the merits. He owes Putin, obviously, and he basically promised him Syria during the campaign. I think Putin is tired of holding his fire and he wants to be able to show some benefit to his decision to intervene in our election, especially now that Mueller is closing in, his oligarchs are getting their assets frozen and their laptops and cell phones seized at our airports.

    Reply
  13. rikyrah says:
    April 6, 2018 at 12:37 pm

    But Trump promised the big tax cut he signed in December would create so many more news jobs for the economy.

    Jobs Created:
    March 2016: 235,000
    March 2017: 73,000
    March 2018: 103,000#JobsReporthttps://t.co/kVDu6B7LVV

    — Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) April 6, 2018

    Reply
  15. SouthernGirl2 says:
    April 6, 2018 at 11:01 am

    I told y’all he’s a thug. And just wait until Mueller’s report. Brace yourselves.

    https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/982286893030100993

    Reply
  17. SouthernGirl2 says:
    April 6, 2018 at 10:43 am

    750 Palestinians, folks! And Trump said nothing about it in a phone call to Prime Minister Netanyahu

    https://twitter.com/BritainEakin/status/982282341069471745

    Reply
  18. rikyrah says:
    April 6, 2018 at 10:42 am

    Dow down 326

    Reply
  20. rikyrah says:
    April 6, 2018 at 10:40 am

    National Security
    For Trump and his generals, ‘victory’ has different meanings

    Trump urged the CIA to start arming its drones in Syria. “If you can do it in 10 days, get it done,” he said, according to two former officials familiar with the meeting.

    Later, when the agency’s head of drone operations explained that the CIA had developed special munitions to limit civilian casualties, the president seemed unimpressed. Watching a previously recorded strike in which the agency held off on firing until the target had wandered away from a house with his family inside, Trump asked, “Why did you wait?” one participant in the meeting recalled.

    On the campaign trail, Trump often said he would “take out” the families of terrorists.

    Reply
  21. SouthernGirl2 says:
    April 6, 2018 at 10:40 am

    I read where Fox News were complaining because he applied to 20 universities…….

    https://twitter.com/KHOU/status/979756034137952257

    Reply
  26. SouthernGirl2 says:
    April 6, 2018 at 9:57 am

    Evil sob. This thug is capable of anything. Don’t be surprised when the truth unfolds in the Russia Investigation.

    https://twitter.com/WTFisGoingOnDon/status/982252669644324864

    Reply
  29. rikyrah says:
    April 6, 2018 at 9:53 am

    Trump says ‘pain’ from China tariffs will make US ‘much stronger’

    Source: The Hill

    BY JOHN BOWDEN – 04/06/18 08:40 AM EDT

    President Trump says in a new interview that tariffs targeting China over intellectual property theft could cause some “pain” in the U.S. economy, but promised that America would emerge stronger as a result.

    “I’m not saying there’s not gonna be any pain,” Trump said Friday in an interview with “Bernie & Sid in the Morning” on 77 WABC. He also acknowledged the initial reaction from markets is likely to be negative. They “could lose a little bit,” he said.

    -snip-

    A relatively poor jobs report released Friday that found the nation added 103,000 jobs in March is also likely to push markets lower, but Trump said he was not worried about a negative reaction from his move on trade.

    “We’re gonna be much stronger for it,” he added later in the interview.

    Reply
  30. rikyrah says:
    April 6, 2018 at 9:35 am

    With two indictments already, Mueller still digging into Manafort

    Joyce Vance, former U.S. attorney, talks with Rachel Maddow about understanding special counsel Robert Mueller’s strategy as he continues to execute search warrants on Paul Manafort and interviews Donald Trump’s lawyer and business associates.

    Reply
  31. rikyrah says:
    April 6, 2018 at 9:32 am

    Mueller not done with Manafort, also scrutinizing Michael Cohen

    Rachel Maddow reports on new court filings that show that Robert Mueller’s prosecutors have executed another search warrant on Paul Manafort as recently as a month ago, and a new report that Trump lawyer Michael Cohen has come into the investigative spotlight.

    Reply
  32. rikyrah says:
    April 6, 2018 at 9:31 am

    Wallace: Pruitt scandal is a White House dysfunction story

    Nicolle Wallace talks with Rachel Maddow about why the scandals surrounding EPA chief Scott Pruitt have outgrown the bounds of his agency and are now part of the story of the dysfunctional Donald Trump White House.

    Reply
  33. rikyrah says:
    April 6, 2018 at 9:29 am

    Amen, but I never even started.

    Robert De Niro: I am done trying to see things from the point of view of Trump supporters https://t.co/JA0juyjGbm pic.twitter.com/T1Px8inCY7

    — The Hill (@thehill) April 6, 2018

    Reply
  34. rikyrah says:
    April 6, 2018 at 9:29 am

    Why I want @staceyabrams to be Georgia’s next governor: “… I hope what people see when they meet me is that I like this work… I don’t come at this job driven by grievance or anger. I am driven by hope and joy and an expectation that we can do more.” https://t.co/ICPcpphy5w

    — Dudette (@Dudette9t9) April 6, 2018

    Reply
  35. rikyrah says:
    April 6, 2018 at 9:28 am

    Know any veteran who is homeless or even a military family being threatened with homelessness ? @BarackObama worked tirelessly with @JoeBiden on this issue and there is help . Call 877-424-3838. You are not alone . No vet is alone . There IS help. pic.twitter.com/IeJeTa7t7D

    — HOMEFRONT HUGS FOUNDATION (@HomefrontHugs) April 6, 2018

    Reply
  36. rikyrah says:
    April 6, 2018 at 9:27 am

    “That’s the President of the United States of America … he sounds like a drunk guy in Queens at the end of the bar” – @SteveSchmidtSES on Trump’s off-script remarks at tax roundtable in West Virginia
    w/ @NicolleDWallace
    Full segment here: https://t.co/seKFqdnkQ3 pic.twitter.com/1i1quYEHEG

    — Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) April 5, 2018

    Reply
  37. rikyrah says:
    April 6, 2018 at 9:27 am

    “Impose” is different than “enforce”. The sanctions that have been imposed have not been truly enforced.

    For example, Pompeo hosted Russian spies who are banned from US soil under sanctions, and now is going to be Secretary of State. https://t.co/4JW6MB4kLd

    — Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) April 6, 2018

    Reply
  38. rikyrah says:
    April 6, 2018 at 9:26 am

    Icahn role shows common thread in Pruitt ethics, policy scandals

    Rachel Maddow looks at the relationship between Donald Trump adviser Carl Icahn and EPA chief Scott Pruitt and how Icahn’s business interests intertwine with Pruitt’s ethics scandals and peculiar EPA policies.

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      April 6, 2018 at 8:48 am

      Absolutely have so much respect for Brian stevenson

      LYNCHING–America’s UGLY CRIME against HUMANITY.

      21ST CENTURAY—The lynching continues, though, through state-sanctioned POLICE SHOOTINGS.

      YEAH.I.SAID. IT.

      Reply
  52. rikyrah says:
    April 6, 2018 at 3:47 am

    Good Morning Everyone 😄😄😄

    Reply

Leave a Reply