Donald Trump reveals just how scared he is of Paul Manafort
Donald J. Trump to date has been very quiet about Paul Manafort and his cooperating plea deal on Friday. Other than a few tweets on Hurricane Florence, including one that disclosed that at the time only five people had been reported dead from the hurricane – an obvious desperation tactic to show that the 3,000 dead in Puerto Rico cannot be so – revealing he obviously has no clue how natural disasters work, he has not been on the attack much. On Saturday, Trump tweeted:
“While my (our) poll numbers are good, with the Economy being the best ever, if it weren’t for the Rigged Russian Witch Hunt, they would be 25 points higher! Highly conflicted Bob Mueller & the 17 Angry Democrats are using this Phony issue to hurt us in the Midterms. No Collusion!” He can call it whatever he likes, but there is no witch hunt here – the guilty pleas and convictions are adding up to staggering numbers, and each new plea or conviction leads closer and closer to the feet of Trump. In addition, he selected all of these people as leaders in his administration and campaign, and they are all proving to be criminals. As Lawrence Tribe has noted, Mueller is batting a 1,000 against targets of his investigation.
On Sunday, the Twitter addict-in-chief posted: “The illegal Mueller Witch Hunt continues in search of a crime. There was never Collusion with Russia, except by the Clinton campaign, so the 17 Angry Democrats are looking at anything they can find. Very unfair and BAD for the country. ALSO, not allowed under the LAW!”
Notice no mention of Paul Manafort in these tweets. Although that’s not really how these things work, perhaps Trump is afraid that saying anything will push Manafort to cooperate even more eagerly. The Sunday tweet is completely laughable – “in search of a crime?” Cohen and Manafort have pleaded guilty to multiple crimes and are helping expose other people’s crimes.
There is perhaps a search, but it is one of “search and destroy.” His statement that the investigation is “not allowed under the LAW” has no basis in fact. It is a valid investigation and has now paid for itself, thanks to the confiscation of various Manafort properties, including his Trump Tower condo. Maybe the Mueller team can move into that condo and continue its “Which Hunt” as in, which of your people will be next?
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.