USA TODAY International Edition
Our view: Manafort verdict bolsters Mueller’s credibility
One of President Donald Trump’s recent Twitter tirades against Robert Mueller snarled that the special counsel’s investigation is “disgraced and discredited.”
By obtaining the conviction of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on eight counts of tax evasion and bank fraud, Mueller’s team again demonstrated that it is neither. In fact, Mueller’s inquiry is vital to upholding the rule of law.
At a minimum, Tuesday afternoon’s split-screen images of two former top Trump operatives — Manafort and longtime lawyer Michael Cohen — convicted of or copping to eight counts apiece was an embarrassment to a president who promised to hire “only the best people.”
More ominously for the White House, Cohen, in pleading guilty to bank fraud, tax evasion and campaignfinance felonies, directly implicated Trump in a federal crime: hush money payments to two women during the 2016 campaign.
Although not directly related to the campaign, the Manafort case was the first jury trial test for Mueller’s team. Convincing 12 jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that Manafort is a bona fide crook — including on five counts of tax evasion and two allegations of bank fraud — adds at least a modicum of luster to Mueller’s reputation as a credible pursuer of justice.
Commenting after the verdict, Trump emphasized that Manafort’s trial had nothing to do with alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, the heart of Mueller’s mandate, and repeated his “witch hunt” mantra.
Actually, the Manafort conviction comes on top of the prosecutor’s other accomplishments since his appointment in May 2017: obtaining charges, indictments or guilty pleas for 32 other people and three Russian companies. Some witch hunt.
Given what the public already knows about Manafort’s desperate, reckless behavior before and during his tenure as Trump’s campaign chairman, Mueller would have been derelict not to press for cooperation by prosecuting Manafort’s ample crimes.
As campaign chairman, Manafort offered a billionaire close to President Vladimir Putin private briefings on the campaign. And Manafort attended the infamous June 9, 2016, meeting in Trump Tower with Russians dangling dirt on Hillary Clinton.
Why on earth wouldn’t Mueller want to find out what Manafort knows?
Whether the convicted felon will now finally cooperate to mitigate a potential lengthy sentence in prison is an open question. Maybe Manafort hopes Trump will pardon him, though that would be a naked, power-abusing act of self-preservation by the president.
Trump would certainly be gloating on Twitter if there had been a hung jury on all of the Manafort charges, or if he had been acquitted. But Tuesday’s verdict shows that despite the endless chaos of the Trump administration, one small corner of government is working with cool efficiency and doing its talking in the courtroom.