Special counsel Robert Mueller is desperate.
His investigation into Russian collusion has so far found no evidence against Donald Trump.
But now he may have just found the smoking gun he can use to remove the President from office.
Mueller dropped a bombshell on Thursday when his office announced a new 32 count indictment against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates.
The special counsel announced new charges on bank and tax fraud relating to lying to banks in order to secure $20 million in loans.
The new charges were in Virginia and will run concurrent to the original set of charges laid forth in an indictment secured in Washington, D.C.
Breitbart reports:
“Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort and his former partner Richard Gates were hit on Thursday with fresh charges of tax and bank fraud, as special Russia meddling prosecutor Robert Mueller stepped up pressure on the president’s former aides.
Already indicted for money laundering and tax evasion, Manafort and Gates were charged in a separate 32-count indictment with defrauding the US Internal Revenue Service and lying to US banks in order to get some $20 million in loans.
As with the indictment of the two released by Mueller on October 30, the new charges were unrelated to the 2016 election campaign of President Donald Trump.
Instead, they grew from the work Manafort and Gates performed for Russia-backed former Ukraine president Viktor Yanukovych between about 2006 and 2014.
Mueller’s team alleges that the two laundered $75 million through offshore accounts, many of them in Cyprus, bringing a large portion of the proceeds into the United States as loans and purchases to avoid income tax.
“Manafort and Gates generated tens of millions of dollars in income as a result of their Ukraine work. From approximately 2006 through the present, Manafort and Gates engaged in a scheme to hide income from United States authorities, while enjoying the use of the money,” the new indictment said.”
Experts believe Mueller is turning the screws on the two in order to get Manafort to flip.
Mueller sees him as his last chance to dig up dirt on the Trump campaign.
So he is using these charges as leverage to induce Manafort to cooperate.
But so far, Manafort has refused to fold.
He has repeatedly denied any collusion with Russia.
And no evidence has emerged to implicate anyone on the campaign.
Bringing additional charges against Manafort is an act of cruelty and prosecutorial abuse.
The reason torture doesn’t work is because the victim will be willing to tell his interrogators anything – even if it’s not true – to get the pain to stop.
Mueller could be asking Manafort to say anything about collusion – even if it’s false – so he can carry out his crusade against the President.
We will keep you up to date on any new developments in this story.
