This is pretty interesting. The Guardian is reporting that Manafort had secret meetings with Assange, most recently in March, 2016. I note with interest what the infamous Steele Dossier has to say, because what it says would be reason enough to promise Manafort a pardon in return for Manafort lying to Mueller. And I do not, and never have, dismissed the Dossier 100%. Nor did our intelligence agencies. No surprise on my part if Steele hit the nail on the head. And no surprise if Mueller knows this full well....
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...cret-talks-with-assange-in-ecuadorian-embassy
Donald Trump’s former campaign manager
Paul Manafort held secret talks with
Julian Assange inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and visited around the time he joined Trump’s campaign, the Guardian has been told.
Sources have said Manafort went to see Assange in 2013, 2015 and in spring 2016 – during the period when he was made a key figure in Trump’s push for the White House....
....One person familiar with WikiLeaks said Assange was motivated to damage the Democrats campaign because he believed a future Trump administration would be less likely to seek his extradition on possible charges of espionage. This fate had hung over Assange since 2010, when he
released confidential US state department cables. It contributed to his decision to take refuge in the embassy.
According to the
dossier written by the former MI6 officer Christopher Steele, Manafort was at the centre of a “well-developed conspiracy of cooperation” between the Trump campaign and Russia’s leadership. The two sides had a mutual interest in defeating Clinton, Steele wrote, whom Putin “hated and feared”.
In a memo written soon after the DNC emails were published, Steele said: “The [hacking] operation had been conducted with the full knowledge and support of Trump and senior members of his campaign team.”
