June 15, 2018: President Trump - "Paul Manafort, Who?"

 

6/15/18: The sun rises again over Washington D.C. Rudy sleeps in late after a hard night ranting. 

Paul Manafort puts on a clean shirt, exquisite tie, and expensive suit (he’s known to have spent at least $500,000 on suits) and heads for court. He’s facing fresh accusations of witness tampering. When proceedings open, his lawyers tell the judge Ol’ Paul didn’t realize that what he was doing was wrong when he contacted two potential witnesses in his case. 

Prosecutors disagree. Manafort, they insist, engaged in a sustained effort to suborn perjury, including sending encrypted messages, while out on $10 million bail. 

The judge orders Manafort to jail, where he will be wearing a much less expensive suit until trial.

Paul Manafort? Trump hardly knows the guy.

 

The president has prepared for this development by laying out the “coffee boy” defense. This defense was first perfected after campaign adviser George Papadopoulos copped a plea. No big deal, Trump said at the time. George was nothing more than a “coffee boy.” Trump now tells reporters he feels bad for Manafort, who “worked for me for a very short period of time…for what, 49 days, or something?” 

Or something. 

Manafort worked for the Trump campaign for 144 days. He led the campaign for three months.

 

BLOGGER’S NOTE (1/25/21): We know, in the end, that President Trump, who hardly knows this guy, decides to pardon Paul Manafort, just before exiting the White House.