White House will be hard-pressed to explain away the guilty plea by campaign aide George Papadopoulos.
Special prosecutor Robert S. Mueller has been publicly quiet since he took on the assignment of digging into Russia’s interference into the 2016 presidential election. But on Monday, he didn’t have to say a word to have the world’s attention.
Mueller charged former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his longtime business partner, Rick Gates, in a 12-count indictment with conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, making false statements and other offenses.
Manafort and Gates have surrendered to federal authorities. They are pleading not guilty.
The initial indictments suggest Mueller will bring substantial pressure on Manafort to tell federal authorities what he might know about any Russian sabotage of the election and any Trump campaign collusion with it.
Mueller’s charges against Manafort and Gates didn’t reference the Trump campaign, and President Trump was quick on Twitter to dismiss the allegation as irrelevant to the collusion probe.
“Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign,” Trump tweeted on Monday morning.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also underlined her boss’ message — even though Manafort was with his campaign through August 2016, a time covered by the indictment. Gates remained on the campaign through Trump’s election.
What makes the denials even more difficult to believe was Mueller’s third announcement.
On Monday Mueller unsealed an agreement that former Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos has already pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his interactions with Russian operatives during the 2016 campaign.
Papadopoulos has been cooperating with investigators, according to the court filing.
Papadopoulos’ case appears to be directly related to the investigation of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. The case materials clearly show the care Papadopoulos took to keep his (unnamed) superiors in the loop about his Russian contacts.
Since the defendant has already admitted guilt, the Trump team will have a much harder time brushing away anything that arises from Papadopoulos’ case as “fake news.”
But all of this supposes Mueller’s investigation will be allowed to continue.
The Trump White House has made no secret of its frustration with Mueller’s investigation, and the new developments are likely to intensify it. But Mueller is investigating an issue that goes to the heart of our democracy: our right to be free from foreign interference. He must be allowed to continue, and Congress must make that clear.