Read Paul Manafort's 'bada bing bada boom' plan to paint an Obama official as anti-Semitic
Paul Manafort allegedly had a sneaky plan to tie an Obama administration official to an anti-Semitic Ukranian political party, and getting it done was as easy as "bada bing bada boom."
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors filed a new criminal information document in Manafort's case Friday, a move that typically signals that a defendant has reached a plea deal. In it, there are some colorful details about the ex-Trump campaign chair's history of fighting the Democratic Party.
Before Manafort joined the Trump campaign, he spent time lobbying American officials on behalf of Ukranian oligarch Viktor Yanukovich. In 2012, per the new document, he apparently decided to label an unnamed official in former President Barack Obama's administration as anti-Semitic for supporting Yanukovich's political rival Yulia Tymoshenko. Manafort learned about Tymoshenko's ties to an anti-Semitic group, worked with Israel's government to publicize the story, and then said he had "'someone pushing it on the [New York Post],'" Friday's filings allege. "Bada bing bada boom," Manafort allegedly said. Per the filing, he "sought to have the [Obama administration] understand that 'the Jewish community will take this out on Obama on election day if he does nothing.'"
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Manafort was convicted on eight counts of financial fraud last month, and was set to face a second trial for money laundering, obstruction of justice, and foreign lobbying violations. Those proceedings were disrupted with the new document's filing Friday. The additional filing also accuses Manafort of "cheating the United States out of over $15 million in taxes" and will let the government seize four of Manafort's properties, per The Washington Post. He is expected to plead guilty to the superseding indictment Friday.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
Spain’s deadly high-speed train crashThe Explainer The country experienced its worst rail accident since 2013, with the death toll of 39 ‘not yet final’
-
Can Starmer continue to walk the Trump tightrope?Today's Big Question PM condemns US tariff threat but is less confrontational than some European allies
-
There’s a new serif in town: Trump’s font overhaulIn the Spotlight As the State Department shifts from Calibri to Times New Roman, is this just a ‘typographic dispute’, or the ‘latest battleground’ of a culture war
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
