Trump/Russia investigation claims its first heads: Manafort, Gates & Papadopoulos

Paul Manafort

Let the indictments begin:

The indictment against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his longtime colleague Rick Gates has been released — and it includes 12 counts, including charges of money laundering, tax evasion and conspiracy against the United States.

The indictment represents the first charges stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

The indictment, which was released on Monday morning, accuses Manafort and Gates of engaging in a money laundering conspiracy over a span of a decade related to their work for a Kremlin-backed political party in Ukraine. Gates served as served as his deputy in the Trump campaign[.]

George Papadopoulos

Manafort and Gates aren’t the only ones in trouble today:

A former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser has pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the FBI after he lied about his interactions with foreign officials close to the Russian government -- the campaign's clearest connection so far to Russia's efforts to meddle in the 2016 election.

In court records unsealed on Monday, the FBI said George Papadopoulos "falsely described his interactions with a certain foreign contact who discussed 'dirt' related to emails" concerning Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Records also describe an email between Trump campaign officials suggesting they were considering acting on Russian invitations to go to Russia.

So, what does this all mean? What happens next? Has Trump been impeached yet?

To most of these questions: I don’t know. (Though I can predict that last one is still a pipe dream.^*) Neither do virtually any of the pundits, bloggers, journalists and other non-lawyerly types who are now celebrating the impending presidential impeachment and/or hypothesizing fantastical criminal sentences.

You know who is a lawyerly type? Ken White at Popehat, who has quick-’n’-dirty lawsplainers on both the Manafort/Gates indictment and the Papadopoulos case. Go read those instead. The situation may not be quite as sensationalistic as some outlets will proclaim, but nonetheless, the chips are starting to fall and a lot of Trump affiliates are in serious trouble.

Know who else might be in serious trouble? Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Edit (10/31/17 @ 6:34 AM ET): Typo fix.

* I hate having to repeat this, but even if someone did magically convince a majority of Congressional Republicans to vote to take down their president, do the words President Pence sound any better? The problem with Trump is that he’s (amongst other things) a moron; the problem with Pence is that he isn’t.