One more Russian contact: Here's why it matters - By Jennifer Rubin
By Jennifer Rubin
Opinion writer
January 9 at 9:00 AM
The Post reports, Paul Manafort shared 2016 presidential campaign polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, an associate the FBI has said has ties to Russian intelligence, according to a court filing. We learned about the confab between Donald Trumps then-campaign chief Manafort and a Russian intelligence-connected oligarch because Manaforts attorney apparently does not know how to black out a document. (The information is in a filing that appears to inadvertently include details not intended to be made public and indicates a pathway by which the Russians could have had access to Trump campaign data.)
Even more intriguing, the filing by Manaforts attorneys indicates that Manafort and Kilimnik discussed a Ukrainian peace plan, the first explicit reference to a discussion of Ukraine policy between the Trump campaign and a Russian-linked figure in the special counsel investigation:
You will recall that while Manafort was in charge of the Trump campaign in summer 2016 the Republican National Committee platform was changed to remove support for weapons for Ukraine, a dramatic about-face for Republicans and a position that would please Russia and its Ukrainian puppets.
The revelation is noteworthy on many levels, beyond further evidence of the abject incompetence of the lawyers serving the Trump circle.
Manafort conceded that he discussed or may have discussed a Ukraine peace plan with Mr. Kilimnik on more than one occasion, his attorneys quote the special counsel as saying, and acknowledged that he and Mr. Kilimnik met while they were both in Madrid, without giving a date.
This is not the first piece of evidence of collusion between the Trump camp and Russian figures, to be sure. The Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 between Manafort, Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr., and Russians promising dirt on Hillary Clinton has been known for some time. But here we see Manafort giving something of value (insider polling data) to a Russian. What is not clear is how much Donald Trump knew.
As my colleague Philip Bump put it, Its worth asking why Manafort might have passed polling to Kilimnik. If he wanted Kilimnik to share that information with Russia to influence the campaign, its hard to see that as anything less than an effort to collude with Russia. What we cannot say at this stage is how valuable the polling data was and what if anything Kilimnik and/or Russian intelligence did with it.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/01/09/one-more-russian-contact-heres-why-it-matters/
UpInArms
(51,253 posts)Considering that the US has now been rendered a place of instability and chaos ... I would say that it was, indeed, very valuable to Putin and his Russia
BigmanPigman
(51,432 posts)Conspiracy to collude is official. Manafort is lying still since he is fearful for himself and his family. He fears Putin more than Mueller or tRump.