June 3, 2018

Trump Blames FBI for Not Warning Him About Paul Manafort

“[W]e should have been told that Comey and the boys were doing a number on him.”

Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Newscom via ZUMA

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President Donald Trump has been known to boast about only hiring the best people, but in hindsight says he could’ve used some help. On Sunday, Trump complained that the FBI didn’t inform him that his own campaign chairman was under investigation during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump downplayed the role of Paul Manafort, who has been indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller on multiple counts of money laundering, fraud, and conspiracy against the United States, and said “we should have been told that Comey and the boys were doing a number on him.” 

If only there had been some way for the Trump campaign to know that Manafort, a resident of Trump Tower—who’d made his fortune as a political consultant to dictators and had largely been absent from Republican politics for two decades—was involved in some shady business. Like, say, Google.

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That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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