IT'S A RICO CASE:

On Friday, Manafort finally cracked from the pressure. President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the United States and conspiracy to obstruct justice in a D.C. courthouse. He also admitted his guilt to ten charges on which the Alexandria jurors failed to reach a verdict. And in exchange for a lighter sentence to be determined later, Manafort gave Mueller his prize after eleven months of labor: a binding agreement to "cooperate fully, truthfully, completely and forthrightly ... in any and all matters as to which the government deems the cooperation to be relevant."

This is the moment that Trump feared and tried to prevent. Manafort is one of the few people who can provide details about the extent of the campaign's interactions with the Russian government during the last election. His extensive connections to Moscow-aligned figures in Eastern Europe make him the likeliest vector for whatever conspiracy may have existed between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin to sabotage Hillary Clinton's presidential bid in 2016. Manafort's cooperation will likely shed new light on key moments during that fateful year: He's the only American, for example, who participated in the infamous Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 that isn't related to Trump by blood or by marriage. [...]

The result is perhaps Mueller's most important victory yet, and a vindication of his quiet, patient strategy in the investigation. Federal prosecutors in white-collar and organized-crime cases often begin by bringing charges against low-level members, often on unrelated charges. Investigators then work their way up the chain of command by offering leniency in exchange for cooperation and testimony against higher-level conspirators. 

Tweet   @brothersjudd