Former Barack Obama White House counsel is on trial for misleading investigators who were looking into a scheme to prop up the government of Ukraine.
Paul Manafort’s partner, Rick Gates, turned on all the parties and is spilling the beans and it’s not good news for Greg, Obama, and the New York Times.
This case came from Robert Mueller’s investigation and it shows the underbelly if the swamp at work. They pick a side, probably for a large fee, and set about manufacturing a narrative that fits their clients wishes.
Next thing you know we are in a war with someone… luckily in this case the harm was less but just as insidious. This is Orwell level stuff using the media to make a fake story true and all involved should be ashamed of themselves.
The Washington Examiner also reported that Gates detailed the plan to “seed” the report with a trusted journalist before it was released, claiming “most of the other reporters would follow the first article.” Gates said the overall plan was a “living breathing document” but “the strategy never changed about seeding the report.”
Rick Gates also says that Craig proposed the journalist who they eventually decided to go with and that Craig worked with the reporter on the article.
“Mr. Craig had named a reporter from the New York Times who might be interested in writing this and that he’d be willing to reach out to about this,” Gates testified. “He said Mr. Sanger is a tough but fair reporter and we wouldn’t necessarily get a positive article — but we’d get a credible article.”
Rick Gates further testified that “the overall strategy worked” thanks to Craig suggesting Sanger.
“The article wasn’t the greatest but it was viewed neutrally, so it did have an impact,” he claimed.
The article, published back in 2012, was headlined “Failings Found in Trial of Ukrainian Ex-Premier.” It listed some flaws in the prosecution, but Sanger wrote that “overall” the report “seemed to side heavily with the government.”
“They [Skadden] found no evidence in the trial record to support to her [Tymoshenko’s] main contention: that her prosecution was a politically motivated effort by Mr. Yanukovich,” Sanger wrote.
When asked why Sanger’s name rarely appeared in the plans, Craig stated that “Mr. Manafort asked me to keep Mr. Sanger’s name off of material going back and forth” between himself and the other lobbying groups they’d involved, including the Podesta Group.
Craig also told prosecutors that Manafort picked Skadden because it was “viewed as a credible Western firm.” Gates said Craig was brought on because he was a “credible attorney” who could help sell the trustworthiness of the report.