The judges also ruled that Manafort was not involved in the Lindbergh kidnapping.
I must have stuttered in post #9989. 
More than a dozen other felonies. Isn’t he the one who was recently described as having an otherwise blameless past, or some such bullshit. There’s no kind of criminal like a Trump criminal.
It’s Friedo. He’s smart, not like everybody says.
(Sorry, but I’ve actually waited a damned long time to pull that line out about you, Friedo. Glad I can check it off my to-do list. 
)
Derp. I just moved timezones. I can’t keep on top of breaking news anymore. 
To be fair, I didn’t quote any part of the article, as you did. Made my post easy to miss. I was just so pleased to see it, I got excited.
I can see I need to brush up on my Godfather references…
For the record, it’s Fredo who is smart, not like everybody says. friedo is and always has been kinda a dumbass.
For the record, nobody here ever claimed I was smart either, so we’re good.
That said, I’m not super optimistic that the sentences will be all that lengthy, given the Federal results. Though, obviously, the more to pile on the better.
It’s more about making a possible pardon irrelevant.
His total exposure is 25 years maximum, so not a small amount of time for a man who’s about to turn 70.
And who has been doing illegal shit unnoticed (or uncared about) for years, until he ended up in the Trumpiverse. This is what really bothers me. I understand that first priorities with US law enforcement lie with violent crime here in this country, but some of the stuff Manafort did very likely resulted in people being killed elsewhere and it would have been awful nice if someone somewhere had given a shit about that earlier. Just sayin’.
I’ve heard this complaint a lot, and it’s understandable to a point.
Here’s another perspective: It’s hard to prosecute a case with no probable cause, and hence no witnesses and no evidence. Until people like Rick Gates, Michael Flynn and Michael Cohen came forward and were willing to provide their testimony/evidence in exchange for leniency, what basis did law enforcement have to subpoena documents, tap phones, question witnesses or anything else?
I’ve been trying to find out where that lawyer, Kevin Downing, is admitted to the bar—because surely that bar association would have something to say to a member who has now lied in public, quite egregiously, twice.
Haven’t found the information, though–just that Downing worked in DC for several years.
On the egregious lying–from MSNBC:
Trump can/can try to pardon Manafort and himself, but it’s only Federal. Those state charges, incoming from potentially multiple states… they’re not going to go away. So a pardon today or the day after the 2020 election doesn’t really do much for Trump’s longterm freedom.
Chris Hayes said today on Twitter that Trump isn’t apt to pardon as payback, but dangle the potential for a pardon as an inducement to keep from flipping. Like it came out today it was dangled to Cohen. Why ANYONE who has worked with Trump would hope he would risk his own reputation and office to pardon them is beyond me. He will only do it if it helps him and if he pardons Manfort, for example, then Manafort can be compelled to testify. And that would be bad for Trump. The hope of a pardon keeps Manafort from flipping. So if I’m him and now I’m facing some of those unpardonable state charges… do I flip? I’m nailed on the Federal level. If I cooperate with the state, I get out of prison to testify from time to time. I may get my state time to be concurrent with my federal time. Maybe the state attorneys put in a good word and I get some time shaved off my federal time. I won’t get my Trump pardon, but I’m not getting that anyway. Working with the state might be the only way I don’t die in prison.
Unless, of course, the information he has is so explosive re: Russia that the only way he’ll survive prison is to shut up. That’s a wild card.
But all these other people. Why are you going to hope on Trump? If he hasn’t pardoned anyone yet and potentially any pardon he might grant could be upended because it could be conceived as obstruction on Trump’s part, why are you going to hope he pardons you? Because he’s honest? Loyal? Trustworthy?
The dangling of pardons is not real. It’s a higher stakes version of “the check is in the mail.”
Yes. Commercial Real Estate, Finance and Construction are quite possibly the three dirtiest businesses in New York City, and vectors where the three meet are veritable shitholes of corruption. As a New Yorker the thing that surprises me most about Trump is the stuff that hasn’t come up yet — like his connections and dealings with shyster mob lawyer/fixer and convicted felon Al Pirro. Who is the ex-husband of Jeannine Pirro. Who used to be the Westchester DA. Whose legitimate legal career was killed because sensitive information made its way from her DA office to the mob. So she tried TV law and failed now she kisses Trumps ass on Fox News. And no one even questions their long-standing personal connection.
But there are a lot of those dealings and relationships out there and everyone knows a lot of it is dirty, but no one can find that first crack in the wall to justify opening an investigation. It can take a lot of focused effort to find those initial cracks, and the media can be a big help. That is why these big prosecutions often happen after a lot of media attention. Think of Martin Shkrelli.
Also, once these characters wormed their way into a Presidential campaign, these shady dealings became serious national security issues and merited greater attention. I bet the FBI freaked the fuck out when all these shady characters started showing up around Trump on the campaign trail. Kind of like how Commissioner Gordon would flip when the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler and Catwoman all showed up together.
Everything Trump does is a high stakes version of “the check is in the mail”. I’m pretty sure Russia expected more than they got. Magnitsky still hasn’t been repealed and even though Trump tried his hardest to give them Syria, that only half worked out. Agent Orange has some explaining to do.
Excellent analogy! In the comic book world, this would be cause for alarm. In thump world, not so much.
Apocryphal sentencing story:
Judge: “Thirty years!”
White-collar defendant: “Your Honor, I’m seventy years old. There’s no way I’m going to be able to serve that long a sentence.”
Judge (kindly): “Well, just do the best you can.”
His pardon of Joe Arpaio was widely seen as payback for the ex-sheriff’s high-profile support in the 2016 campaign.