The real reason Robert Mueller is hiding the identity of Paul Manafort’s “Person D1” and “Person D2”
We can debate whether it counts as a bombshell or not, but suffice it to say that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has dropped a bomb on Paul Manafort’s head. Mueller just revealed in court that he’s caught Manafort trying to tamper with witnesses. This is a big deal for a number of reasons, including the increased odds that Manafort will now have to flip on Donald Trump. Now we have one big question to deal with: why did Mueller conceal the identity of the witnesses in question?
Robert Mueller’s filing accuses Paul Manafort of having communicated with, and having tried to tamper with, two witnesses only named as “Person D1” and “Person D2.” Mueller has the communications, meaning that he knows their identities. The filings include the exact text of some of the exchanges, meaning that the two witnesses can now easily figure out that they’re D1 and D2, if they didn’t know already. And of course Manafort already knows who they are. So why hide it?
Mueller is still hiding the identity of Manafort’s alleged co-conspirator known only as “Person A” in these ongoing court filings. Most observers have concluded that Person A is alleged Russian spy Konstantin Kilimnik, based on how closely the details in the filing match up with what’s already been confirmed about Kilimnik’s involvement. Mueller clearly thinks Kilimnik has participated in serious crimes here, yet he’s still declining to name him.
To the best of anyone’s knowledge, Kilimnik has not been indicted or charged with anything. Robert Mueller could already have his cooperation and doesn’t want to acknowledge it yet, or Mueller could be keeping Kilimnik’s name out of this so he can charge him separately later. But the explanation for Mueller keeping “Person D1” and “Person D2” under seal is going to end up being the same explanation for why he won’t acknowledge that “Person A” is Kilimnik: he doesn’t want to tip off the full scope of what he’s got going on here.
