FBI conducted predawn raid of former Trump campaign chairman Manafort’s home

[Lenonis]

and special council obviously found that this might be worth pursuing.

That literally makes it not a witch hunt. That's my point. We can discuss whether it's appropriate to politicize it or not...but calling it a witch hunt is stating that no wrong doing could have possibly occurred and it's just a waste of time. Which contradicts the part of your statement I quoted. Hope that helps clarify my objection to that particular phrase.

[maomoa]

I guess they'll just have to take you up on your challenge and pass something you really don't like.

https://www.gop.com/platform/

There's a plethora of Trickle Down policies I'm sure most normal Americans wouldn't like but don't know any better.

But back on topic.

I'll post something I saw in another forum about this raid.

My take as a former white-collar investigator: Manafort recently produced a variety of documents in response to voluntary document requests. The total number of documents he produced was quite small. He also produced documents to and testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee shortly before this raid.
The investigators (either at Senate Intel, the FBI, Mueller, or possible all three) likely knew of the existence of certain documents prior to making those requests through intelligence or the treasury or otherwise.
I suspect that when Manafort's production and testimony failed to include key documents investigators already knew existed that gave them probable cause to suspect he was hiding those documents (or as the poster above suggested, may destroy those documents), and possibly others. At least, that is usually what is going on behind the scenes when you follow up voluntary requests with a search warrant.
We know that Manafort turned over documents to the Senate Intelligence Committee in late May 2017. We also know that the Senate Committee sent a request relating to Manafort's finances to the treasury in early May 2017. According to WaPo/NYT reporting, this search warrant was executed in late July. Manafort met with investigators for the Senate Intelligence Committee on July 25. According to this article, the raid took place the following day, on the morning of July 26. Manafort also produced documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee on August 2, 2017, but that appears to have been after this raid.
I believe this quote from the article supports my theory:
Investigators may have argued to a federal judge they had reason to believe Manafort could not be trusted to turn over all records.
as well as these quotes from the related NYT article out a few minutes ago:
NYT reports that Mueller investigators searched Manafort's home for "tax documents and foreign banking records."
The F.B.I. typically seeks such records when investigating violations of the federal Bank Secrecy Act.
The search was carried out shortly after Mr. Manafort met with investigators for the Senate Intelligence Committee on July 25.
Since this post is visible, I would also like to add this interesting take retweeted by Chris Hayes at MSNBC. The anonymous sources for the WaPo article appear to be defense-side, while the sources for the NYT reporting appear to be from the side of the investigation.
Finally, to clarify my experience, I am a lawyer who worked for the banks on internal white collar investigations (and defended them in white collar investigations) I am not former law enforcement.

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INB4 out of scope.

[Cyberowl]

Also the day after, Trump started attacking the current new FBI director on twitter, calling for his firing.

Wait really? Even in Trump's age, this is "no way" level.

[GreenJesus]

What is happening however is that a raid means that the FBI had probable cause to get a warrant. So get that "witch hunt" bullshit out of here. Nobody believes that. Your talking point is dead.

I think they raided manafort for that potentially illegal stuff he did in 2013 so they could maybe use it as a leverage chip. Not sure it relates directly to Russia 2016. It may be for all I know but I don't know and you don't know.

[maomoa]

I think they raided manafort for that potentially illegal stuff he did in 2013 so they could maybe use it as a leverage chip. Not sure it relates directly to Russia 2016. It may be for all I know but I don't know and you don't know.

Most likely. They then use it as leverage to get the truth out of the DTJ meeting or the Mayflower discussions.

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Wait really? Even in Trump's age, this is "no way" level.

Why didn't A.G. Sessions replace Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, a Comey friend who was in charge of Clinton investigation but got big dollars ($700,000) for his wife's political run from Hillary Clinton and her representatives. Drain the Swamp!

July 26th, post-raid.

[Jeezy911]

And posts like these aren't infracted.... deplorable

I usually just pass through his posts, he seems to have a mental illness.

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“Moving from an opposition party to a governing party comes with growing pains. And well, we’re feeling those growing pains today. ” He would later expand on that, saying — “we were a 10-year opposition party where being against things were easy to do. You just had to be against it. And now, in three months time, we tried to go to a governing party where we have to get 216 people to agree with each other on how we do things. And we just weren’t there today. We will get there, but we aren’t there yet.”

I seriously doubt you will find many conservatives defending Paul Rino and the GOP congress. They all fucking suck.

[unfilteredJW]

And posts like these aren't infracted.... deplorable

That cross looks super heavy.

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I seriously doubt you will find many conservatives defending Paul Rino and the GOP congress. They all fucking suck.

Person doesn't fall in line? Must be a RINO.

You guys have a playlist you follow?

[maomoa]

I usually just pass through his posts, he seems to have a mental illness.

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I seriously doubt you will find many conservatives defending Paul Rino and the GOP congress. They all fucking suck.

There has been an uptick in the number of Russian bots looking to remove Ryan. Looks like you're right on cue as either a participant or a pawn.

[Sky High]

I for one am LOVING this nothingburger. Every time I take a bite something new comes up, om nom nom nom nom.

[Breccia]

That cross looks super heavy.

It's made from 100% solid imported covfefe.

On topic: not sure I want to know the over/under on "Manafort is about to flip" versus "Manafort is about to take one for the team". Honestly, neither option is good (and yes, other options exist) since both would have Team Trump have an open admission to breaking campaign laws and working with a hostile foreign power. Even the second option, "Manafort worked alone" won't fly with the rank-and-file GOP.

[Alvito]

Manafort was voluntarily producing documents and testifying.

Then the FBI said "not good enough, we have P.C. for a warrant".

I guess Mueller got tired of waiting for voluntary information to drizzle in when Manafort felt like it?

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"But her emaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaails!" is basically the 2016+ Godwin's Law. Bringing it up is an admission that Trump is in trouble.

"But isn't Godwin's Law still -- "

Nope. See other thread where Anne Frank is making literal comparisons to Hitler. Godwin's Law never applied to literal comparisons.

Hell Kelly Anne went to the email deflection defense twice last week. Sadly Trumpsters still gobble that shit up.

[Jeezy911]

That cross looks super heavy.

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Person doesn't fall in line? Must be a RINO.

You guys have a playlist you follow?

No they suck for failure to remove the worst piece of trash legislation ever to be jammed through congress known as Obamacare which they all campaigned against.

[unfilteredJW]

No they suck for failure to remove the worst piece of trash legislation ever to be jammed through congress known as Obamacare which they all campaigned against.

It's almost like leaving a vast swath of their constituents without health care is bad.

Calling Ryan a RINO? That's some fantasy land bullshit.

If you had even a modicum of self awareness, you'd realize you and the other depos are the RINOs.

[Sky High]

No they suck for failure to remove the worst piece of trash legislation ever to be jammed through congress known as Obamacare which they all campaigned against.

Really you can thank the socipaths in the freedom caucus for that. While some of the GOP have enough brain cells to rub together to realize that Americans ACUALLY like the ACA those guys want to fuck over millions of people for the sake of giving Obama the middle finger finally, after 7 plus years of getting fuck all done.

[Edge-]

No they suck for failure to remove the worst piece of trash legislation ever to be jammed through congress known as Obamacare which they all campaigned against.

That's quite the claim, especially considering it now enjoys support from the majority of Americans.

Care to back it up? Because I'm sure legislation like the Fugitive Slave Act, Chinese Exclusion Act, etc. would all take the cake in terms of being far worse than the ACA.

Also, they campaigned against it because it's easy to vote to repeal and replace something you no you'll never actually have to replace. It's much harder when you are actually in a position to replace it and need to govern, which the GOP seems to have completely forgotten how to do.

And given the complete lack of leadership on the legislative front from the White House, despite Trumps constant claims of being a dealmaker, it's not surprising that legislative gridlock is sinking the GOP/Trump agenda.

[Breccia]

Hell Kelly Anne went to the email deflection defense twice last week.

Trump and Kellyanne are still running for office. Maybe if they tried to do the job they were in, Trump's numbers wouldn't be Nixonian and falling.

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No they suck for failure to remove the worst piece of trash legislation ever to be jammed through congress known as Obamacare which they all campaigned against.

You know what? That's a valid opinion. A lot of the GOP ran against it, and they promised they'd try. And they did.

Where's Trump's plan?

[Lenonis]

Person doesn't fall in line? Must be a RINO.

Everyone is a RINO now. Now the tactic is to call them closet liberals.

[Orbitus]

No they suck for failure to remove the worst piece of trash legislation ever to be jammed through congress known as Obamacare which they all campaigned against.

And you know why they couldn't remove it? Because they didn't have anything better. Trump promised that everyone would get coverage and it would be cheaper. The GOP plans, pretty much all of them, remove insurance from 16-33 million people. And on top of that, every single one of their plans, make it more expensive than what the ACA does.

The ONLY thing better than the ACA is Single Payer or Universal healthcare. And Republicans won't propose that because it is too much of the boogeyman in socialism.

[maomoa]

No they suck for failure to remove the worst piece of trash legislation ever to be jammed through congress known as Obamacare which they all campaigned against.

Jammed? Are you kidding me? It went through so many more committees and debate than the super hidden, literally jammed ACHA crap that just got shutdown with bipartisan support.

The reason it’s the ACA’s seventh anniversary, rather than it’s eighth is that Democrats didn’t pass the law until the second year of Obama’s first term. GTFO

[Toogoodman]

And you know why they couldn't remove it? Because they didn't have anything better. Trump promised that everyone would get coverage and it would be cheaper. The GOP plans, pretty much all of them, remove insurance from 16-33 million people. And on top of that, every single one of their plans, make it more expensive than what the ACA does.

The ONLY thing better than the ACA is Single Payer or Universal healthcare. And Republicans won't propose that because it is too much of the boogeyman in socialism.

That's literally the only way to get costs under control, and keep EVERYONE happy, because EVERYONE will use it. No congress exemption, no business deferment, no people not using it and taking a penalty, people need to get over the "socialist boogeyman" because systems like this are the only thing that will actually keep a mixed economy operational.