MOTHER JONES RUSSIA CONNECTION: Everything You Need to Know About the Manafort Verdict 22AUG18

THE only correcting to this post is the revelation the attempted hack into the DNC was by white hat hackers hired by the Michigan Democratic Party without the knowledge of the DNC. This update on Special Consulfrom Mother Jones.....

August 23, 2018 Michael Cohen Admits He Violated Campaign Finance Laws at Direction of "Candidate" Appearing before a federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday, Cohen said he was directed to violate campaign law at the direction of a candidate for federal office, a clear reference to then-candidate Donald Trump. (Mother Jones) Could Paul Manafort Still Flip on Donald Trump? An Ex-Justice Department Official Explains. The Manafort case is a complicated one—so we asked Channing D. Phillips, who spent nearly 30 years working in the Justice Department and most recently served as acting US Attorney for the District of Columbia, to help parse it. (Mother Jones) —Advertisement— TOP NEWS Caught in the act. The Democratic National Committee says it thwarted an attempted hack of its massive voter database this week. (New York Times) Thanks, but no thanks. Michael Cohen's attorney says "under no circumstances" will his client accept a presidential pardon. (Politico) Mama drama. Roger Stone's super-PAC paid the Manhattan Madam's mom during the 2016 campaign. (Mother Jones) The chopping block. Trump has threatened or fired most senior officials connected to the Russia probe. (Washington Post) Keeping track Follow every turn in the long, twisted, and bizarre history of the Trump-Russia scandal in the always updated Mother Jones timeline. Take a deep dive The Russian Connection is compiled by Bill Buzenberg and Denise Clifton, who ran the election season blog PutinTrump.org. Visit their archive here. Support hard-hitting journalism The Russian Connection and all our reporting is made possible by readers like you. Support our investigations with a tax-deductible donation. WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING "Michael Cohen’s guilty plea appears to implicate the President in a knowing violation of campaign finance laws, with the payment of hush money to advance the Trump campaign. This is the first guilty plea directly alleging potential criminal activity by the President." — Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) "My statement ['Truth isn't truth.'] was not meant as a pontification on moral theology but one referring to the situation where two people make precisely contradictory statements, the classic 'he said, she said' puzzle. Sometimes further inquiry can reveal the truth, other times it doesn't." — Rudy Giuliani, Trump lawyer "While I had deep insight into Russian activities during the 2016 election, I now am aware—thanks to the reporting of an open and free press—of many more of the highly suspicious dalliances of some American citizens with people affiliated with the Russian intelligence services. Mr. Trump’s claims of no collusion are, in a word, hogwash." — John Brennan, former CIA director The Russian Connection comes to you from Mother Jones, an award-winning, investigative journalism outlet that was founded as a nonprofit magazine in 1976.