Thread by @PaulaChertok

#Manafort charging document for today's guilty plea includes details of his planting disinformation in US press to smear political rivals of his pro-Russia clients in Ukraine. Eg "Plant some stink on Tymo"—painting a female rival as a criminal who paid for murder. Sound familiar?

Manafort had used the same propaganda smear tactics in Ukraine that Trump rolled out in his campaign for president in 2016. Manafort not only had Tymo soliciting murder. He pushed tribal divisions, using "Obama Jews" & anti-Semitism to tarnish her. assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4883…

#Manafort manipulated the media with disinformation and then used those planted news stories to manipulate US govt: "I have someone pushing it on the NY Post. Bada bing bada boom…The Jewish community will take this out on Obama on election day if he does nothing.”

BOMBSHELL: #Manafort has a cooperation agreement with Mueller in guilty plea deal. He will have to tell all he knows about the campaign, including Trump Tower meeting w/ campaign officials and a Russian lawyer discussing dirt on Hillary Clinton.& sanctions.nytimes.com/2018/09/14/us/…

WH will spin #Manafort plea deal as nothing to do w/ Trump. That's false on its face. Manafort's dirty work for pro-Putin pols & oligarchs was well-known when Trump hired him AND continued as his campaign chair. The most pivotal Russia disruption happened after Manafort joined👇

https://twitter.com/PaulaChertok/status/979510721598840832

Attorney just said #Manafort has “accepted responsibility” and—interestingly—“wants to keep his family safe.” I’ve always felt Putin was a bigger threat to Manafort than Mueller probe. Skripal showed how Russia goes after people who know as much as PM does about oligarchs & pols.

"Mueller got everything they wanted"—CNN's @evanperez describes dramatic courtroom moment in #Manafort plea today when prosecutor Weissmann referred to "page 2 of the cooperation agreement" and the room gasped. It's a complete cooperation agreement, w/ extensive, broad language.

https://twitter.com/CNNSitRoom/status/1040735645335863296

CNN legal analyst @JeffreyToobin on #Manafort plea deal: The Mueller team worked very hard and got what they wanted. They got a complete cooperation agreement. He confessed to an extraordinary number of crimes. This man was basically a one-man crime wave.

#Manafort knows a lot. He continued to advise Trump AFTER resigning as campaign chair—reported by @maggieNYT on Nov 9—in one of the most consequential edits in history. He sent at least one memo advising to focus on WI and MI—cut from final story.

https://twitter.com/paulachertok/status/1026950196196925440?s=12

#maddow

#Maddow brings it full circle: Manafort’s guilty plea concerned running a disinformation scheme to smear Obama “cabinet official” with anti-Semitism for not properly aligning with pro-Russia interests. That official was…🥁…Putin’s later target Secy of State Hillary Clinton.

Paulie Runs One Last Disinformation Op–Against Trump. Great @joshtpm epilogue to a day that began with stories of Manafort copping a plea but amazingly w/o a cooperation deal. “How could Mueller do that??” Well, he didn’t. And Trump never saw it coming. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/paulie-…

As Mueller wins big w/ Manafort plea and cooperation deal, the propagandists spin ever more wildly. This talk radio guy cites "Mueller sources saying" (who don't leak) he's given up on collusion & obstruction, now "trying to figure out how to end this w/ SOME SORT OF VICTORY"😂

.@TimothyDSnyder: #Manafort worked consistently in #Russia’s interest. Years for Deripaska to soften US for Russian influence. D’paska got him Yanukovych gig—Putin’s preferred man in Ukraine. (Paul got him elected adapting GOP Southern Strategy of identity/culture wars politics)