by J
Special Counsel Robert Mueller has Washington spooked a day before Halloween. Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, along with his business partner Rick Gates were indicted on 12 charges Monday, ranging from tax fraud to conspiracy to launder money.
McCarthy writes in National Review:
The offense of failing to register as a foreign agent (Count Ten) may be a slam-dunk, but it is a violation that the Justice Department rarely prosecutes criminally. There is often ambiguity about whether the person’s actions trigger the registration requirement, so the Justice Department’s practice is to encourage people to register, not indict them for failing to do so.
It may well be that Manafort and Gates made false statements when they belatedly registered as foreign agents, but it appears that Mueller’s office has turned one offense into two, an abusive prosecutorial tactic that flouts congressional intent.
Finally, the money-laundering conspiracy allegation (Count Two) seems far from slam-dunk. For someone to be guilty of laundering, the money involved has to be the proceeds of criminal activity before the accused starts concealing it by (a) moving it through accounts or changing its form by buying assets, etc., or (b) dodging a reporting requirement under federal law.
McCarthy concludes his op-ed asserting Mueller’s overzealousness paves the way for President Trump to deny the Special Counsel’s investigation has “actionable collusion case.”
full story at http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/10/former-prosecutor-breaks-muellers-indictment-manafort-shaky-overcharged/