bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Associated Press

His presidency facing fresh peril, US President Donald Trump and his loyalists have adopted a twofold strategy to protect him against the indictment of two senior campaign aides and a guilty plea on the part of a third, more junior aide: distancing Trump from alleged wrongdoers and levelling new attacks on an old nemesis, Hillary Clinton.
Shortly after the announcement that indictments had been issued for former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and Manafort’s long-term colleague Rick Gates, Trump outlined his strategy succinctly, if not entirely accurately.
Ex-chief of Trump campaign Manafort indicted, pleads not guilty
“Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren’t Crooked Hillary and the Dems the focus?????” he wrote on Twitter.
“Also, there is NO COLLUSION!”
Monday’s indictments opened a new phase of the investigation headed by special counsel Robert Mueller. For the first time, the case has shifted from generalised accusations to specific charges against named individuals.

What neither the president’s backers nor his opponents know for sure is how many Americans in this highly polarised political era may still be out there who have withheld judgment until now and how they may be affected by the sight on their televisions of men in suits walking into court to enter criminal pleas.
Trump campaign aide at core of Russia probe is revealed
Anna Greenberg, a Democratic pollster who has conducted surveys in contested congressional districts, said many voters have been awaiting the outcome of the investigation before judging Trump.
“I think that this is a real issue for him, despite the divisions in our country,” she said. “This is clearly the beginning of finding out what happened.”

Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren't Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2017

<![CDATA[// ><!]]>

Some Trump supporters, however, discounted that, saying the absence of any charges directly against Trump will minimise the impact.
“They’ve gotten some fringe players … but there’s still no smoking gun as to Russian collusion,” former Trump campaign adviser Barry Bennett said.
The White House sought to emphasise that point as much as possible Monday.
In a briefing, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders offered no defence of Manafort, who ran the president’s campaign for key months last year and wrangled delegates to ensure Trump’s nomination at the Republican National Convention in July.
Instead, she pointed repeatedly to the fact that the charges in the indictments focused on activities that largely took place before Manafort and Gates joined the campaign – although despite Trump’s tweeted assertion, the financial crimes alleged in Manafort’s case did extend into his time as campaign manager and beyond.
“Look, today’s announcement has nothing to do with the president, has nothing to do with the president’s campaign or campaign activity,” Sanders said.
She used the same sentiments to distance Trump from George Papadopoulos, the Trump campaign foreign policy aide whose guilty plea was made public Monday.
In a series of two tweets, Trump wrote: “The Fake News is working overtime. As Paul Manaforts lawyer said, there was ”no collusion“ and events mentioned took place long before he ... came to the campaign. Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar. Check the DEMS!”

....Also, there is NO COLLUSION!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2017

<![CDATA[// ><!]]>

The charges to which he pleaded guilty – false statements to FBI investigators – have “nothing to do with the activities of the campaign. It has to do with his failure to tell the truth,” Sanders said. She said Trump had reacted to the indictments “the same way the rest of us in the White House have, and that’s without a lot of reaction because it doesn’t have anything to do with us.”
Sanders also said “the real collusion” was between Clinton and Russians who sought to “smear the president.” She was referring to the Clinton campaign’s financing of opposition research that a former British intelligence officer collected on Trump’s alleged involvement with Russians. The Republican argument is that because the dossier Christopher Steele produced included information from some Russian sources, it showed collusion by Clinton.
US intelligence officials have concluded that Russia was working against Clinton in the election, and the Papadopoulos plea agreement includes fresh examples of people tied to the Russian government seeking to deliver information about Clinton to the Trump team.
The White House arguments were amplified by conservative news outlets, including Fox News’ opinion programmes, which the president regularly watches. Multiple Fox hosts on Monday called into question Mueller’s integrity and cited the Clinton campaign’s involvement in the dossier.
“What we see in politics now is that you win by any means necessary,” said Lisa Kennedy Montgomery of the Fox show Outnumbered. Other guests debated what one called increased questions about Mueller’s “conflicts of interest” and referred to a largely debunked claim that Clinton had sold uranium to Russia.

The conflicting narrative lines speak to the deep political divisions in America that will inevitably shape public reaction to the indictments and any further legal actions by Mueller.
The Trump strategy has been long in the making, since a Manafort indictment has been signalled as early as last summer, when FBI agents used a search warrant to enter his home before dawn.
In August, the day after that search, Trump told reporters that “he was with the campaign, as you know, for a very short period of time – relatively short period of time. But I’ve always known him to be a good man.”
For even longer than that, Trump has used allegations of misconduct by Clinton as a tool for uniting Republicans who disdain the former secretary of state. For days, he and other Republicans have called for investigations of her presidential campaign and State Department tenure. The increased volume of those calls last week may have suggested that Trump and his advisers sensed a looming need for diversion.
By bringing Clinton up once again Monday, Trump was framing the indictments as just another battle in continuing partisan wars. In so doing he was leaning on a political truth: supporters typically rally around a president in crisis, at least initially.
Democrats initially defended Bill Clinton when his affair with an intern became public, and most remained politically loyal even in the throes of impeachment, in which they saw Republicans trying to drive him from office as a greater threat.
During the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, Republican leaders ultimately convinced President Nixon that he needed to resign, but the party and its voters continued to support him for most of the two-year saga.

Australia unveils billions for new nuclear submarines under Aukus security pact

Fading US dollar trust threatens world economy, ex-IMF official Zhu Min warns

US military weighs sustained Iran strikes, casting shadow over diplomacy

Barack Obama blasts ‘clown show’ after Trump’s racist monkey video

Donald Trump

White House has two-pronged strategy – distance Trump from indicted aides, and keep blaming Clinton

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, right, pose for a photograph with trick-or-treaters during a Halloween event on the South Lawn of the White House on Monday. Photo: Bloomberg

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House press secretary, waits for a question during a White House press briefing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. Sanders said U.S. President Donald Trump plans to make his Federal Reserve chair announcement next week. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Former Trump 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort leaves U.S. Federal Court after being arraigned on twelve federal charges in the investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election in Washington, U.S. October 30, 2017. REUTERS/James Lawler Duggan TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Ex-chief of Trump campaign Paul Manafort pleads not guilty after Russia probe leads to first indictments

The charges against Manafort include conspiracy against the US, conspiracy to launder money, false statements and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts

Rick Gates, left, gets into a car as he leaves federal court in Washington, Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, and Manafort's business associate Gates pleaded not guilty to felony charges of conspiracy against the United States and other counts. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 17: Former Donald Trump presidential campaign manager Paul Manafort looks on during Game Four of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium on October 17, 2017 in the Bronx borough of New York City Elsa/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

epa06294456 (FILE) - Special Counsel and Former FBI Director Robert Mueller (C) leaves after briefing members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 US presidential election, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA, 21 June 2017, (reissued 28 October 2017). According to media reports on 28 October 2017 state that first charges have been filed in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller into alleged Russia interference in the 2016 US election. EPA-EFE/MICHAEL REYNOLDS *** Local Caption *** 53599027

FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2017 file photo, President Donald Trump, accompanied by from second from left, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Vice President Mike Pence, National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, Senior Adviser Steve Bannon, and White House press secretary Sean Spicer, speaks on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks during the press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on Octobr 30, 2017. US President Donald Trump has "no plan or intention" to change special counsel probing possible collusion in Russia's effort to sway the 2016 presidential elections.The assurance came hours after special counsel Robert Mueller announced indictments against three Trump campaign aides, including former chairman Paul Manafort."The president said last week and I said several times before, there is no intention or plan to make any changes in regards to the special counsel," White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. / AFP PHOTO / NICHOLAS KAMM

FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump gives a thumbs up as his campaign manager Paul Manafort (C) and daughter Ivanka (R) look on during Trump's walk through at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, U.S., July 21, 2016. REUTERS/Rick Wilking/File Photo

Former Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort, left, leaves his home in Alexandria, Va., Monday, Oct. 30, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Former Trump 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former campaign official Rick Gates appear in front of U.S. Magistrate Deborah A. Robinson in U.S. Federal Court during a hearing in the first charges stemming from a special counsel investigation of possible Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election in Washington, U.S., October 30, 2017. REUTERS/Bill Hennessey ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE

US President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort departs US District Court in Washington on Monday after pleading not guilty to the first charges stemming from a special counsel investigation of possible Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Photo: Reuters

FBI conducted predawn raid of former Trump campaign chairman Manafort’s home last month

Paul Manafort. Photo: Reuters

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign chair and convention manager Paul Manafort appears at a press conference at the Republican Convention in Cleveland, U.S., July 19, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort resigns over revelations about Ukraine work

File photo of Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Photo: AP

Ukrainian lawmaker Serhiy Leshchenko displays papers from secret ledgers belonging to Party of Regions of former Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovich during a news conference in Kiev, Ukraine, August 19, 2016. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos, linked to Russian ‘dirt’ on Clinton, is at core of Mueller’s probe

This image shows George Papadopoulos (left) in a photograph released on Donald Trump's Instagram and Twitter accounts last year. Photo: Agence France-Presse

U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort departs U.S. District Court after a hearing in the first charges stemming from a special counsel investigation of possible Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election in Washington, U.S., October 30, 2017. REUTERS/Jim Bourg

epa06298649 White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks to the media about the FBI's indictment of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in the Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 30 October 2017. She also spoke about the guilty plea by George Papadopoulos, a former advisor to Trump’s presidential campaign. EPA-EFE/JIM LO SCALZO

In this photo from President Donald Trump's Twitter account, George Papadopoulos, third from left, sits at a table with then-candidate Trump and others at what is labeled at a national security meeting in Washington that was posted on March 31, 2016. Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign aide belittled by the White House as a low-level volunteer was thrust on Oct. 30, 2017, to the center of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, providing evidence in the first criminal case that connects Trump’s team and intermediaries for Russia seeking to interfere in the campaign. (Donald Trump's Twitter account via AP)

News

World

United States & Canada

.css-sioo19{color:#c79a00;}Analysis | White House has two-pronged strategy – distance Trump from indicted aides, and keep blaming Clinton

Analysis | White House has two-pronged strategy – distance Trump from indicted aides, and keep blaming Clinton