Donald Trump advisers Paul Manafort and Rick Gates arrested; Corey Lewandowski fingered them both
Donald Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort and campaign adviser Rick Gates have been arrested this morning on a number of criminal charges, including “Conspiracy against the United States.” Manafort’s arrest has been long and widely suspected. The simultaneous arrest of his former business partner Gates comes as more of a surprise. Here’s what immediately stands out: Corey Lewandowski, who lost his Trump campaign job to Manafort, fingered Manafort and Gates both.
Six weeks ago, Corey Lewandowski seemed to know something the rest of us didn’t, when he said this:I think if anybody, and I’ve said this, if Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, or Rick Gates or Carter Page, or anybody else attempted to influence the outcome of the U.S. election through any means that’s inappropriate — through collusion, coordination, or cooperation — I hope they go to jail for the rest of their lives.” (link). Sure, it was easy for him to predict that Manafort, Stone, and Page might all go down – but why did he bring the obscure Gates into it?
Rick Gates is in the process of suddenly becoming a household name this morning, which is remarkable, considering that up to now he was not among the twenty most prominent Trump campaign advisers mentioned in connection to the Trump-Russia scandal. Even most political journalists who have been covering the scandal from the start are now scratching their heads and trying to recall what coverage, if any, they’ve given to Gates over the past year.
Corey Lewandowski was fired as Donald Trump’s campaign manager, it was Paul Manafort who took over that role. Lewandowski celebrated on Twitter back when Manafort’s Russian financial crimes were first exposed last year. Lewandowski knew enough to finger not only Manafort, but also Rick Gates, back in mid September – and now Manafort and Gates have been simultaneously arrested. We’ve all long thought of Lewandowski as something of an idiot. But it’s clear he’s known something all along.
