On The Right Wing Talking Point That The VA Case "Had Nothing To Do With Russia"
It seems that a number of DUers have bought into Trump's framing that the Manafort case in Virginia had nothing to do with Russia.
It's kind of astounding, given the attention that was paid on DU to the hearing last may in which Manafort was challenging the authority of the prosecution on the premise that it was outside of the special counsel's scope.
Let's recap what you should know if you were paying attention:
1. This case was brought by the special counsel.
2. The special counsel's jurisdiction is limited to things having to do with the Trump campaign and Russia.
3. Manafort tried to get this thing dismissed on the basis of the right wing talking point you are repeating - that it has nothing to do with Russia.
So, yes, in order to get this show rolling, the connection with Russia was required to be proven.
That was the point of the argument in the transcript I posted to you already.
Here is how Ellis ruled on that issue, which was required to be proven:
https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.383106/gov.uscourts.vaed.383106.97.0_32.pdf
In sum, ¶ (b)(i) of the May 17 Appointment Order makes clear that the Special Counsel’s investigation into the payments defendant received from Russian-backed Ukrainian officials was authorized because the investigation involved potential links between a Trump campaign official — the defendant — and the Russian government via the Russian-backed Ukrainian President. The May 17 Appointment Order also confirms that the Special Counsel was authorized to prosecute the crimes alleged in the Superseding Indictment because evidence of these alleged crimes was uncovered as part of the Special Counsel’s aforementioned investigation.
If anyone has trouble understanding that ruling, please let me know.
Again, there was a shitload of excitement on DU at the time, so it is amazing to me that people forgot that, yes, the prosecution had to prove that this case had something to do with links between the Trump campaign - i.e. its chair - and Russia - i.e. the source of the funds over which Manafort committed tax evasion.
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