Former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, left, listening with his lawyer Kevin Downing to testimony from government witness Rick Gates. Illustration / AP
Former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, left, listening with his lawyer Kevin Downing to testimony from government witness Rick Gates. Illustration / AP
Today, news broke that Congressman Chris Collins, (R) of New York, was indicted with his son and his son's father-in-law on charges of insider trading.
The implications of the charges are significant for obvious reasons. Such serious allegations against a sitting member of Congress are important in any context but in the context of an already-tough political environment for Republicans, they become outsized.
Collins' district was not considered in reach for the Democrats. That's likely going to change.
There's a non-obvious reason the indictment of Collins is important, too: His is only the most recent example of someone who played a role in President Trump's 2016 campaign facing serious criminal allegations.
Collins, as many have noted, was the first sitting member of Congress to offer Trump his endorsement. It came after Trump had started to demonstrate his electoral strength but was still unexpected.
At no point before November 8, 2016 was Trump exactly a darling of the Republican establishment, so his support often came from the more distant fringes of the party.
Collins, as a de facto establishment figure given his position, helped to some small extent to solidify Trump as acceptable to the party. And Trump appreciated it.
Because Trump was drawing mostly from the fringes, though, his campaign ended up attracting a number of people who wound up facing either federal indictments or significant federal investigations.
Given Trump's one-time assertion that his team would be made up of the "best people in the world," it's worth remembering just how extensive those allegations are.
Corey Lewandowski, seen here in December 2016 Photos / Washington Post
Corey Lewandowski
Former campaign manager
Charged with misdemeanour battery in March 2016. Charges dropped.
After Trump gave a speech at a Trump Organisation property in Jupiter, Florida, in March 2016, journalist Michelle Fields approached the then-candidate to ask a question. Lewandowski grabbed Fields' arm and pulled her away from Trump, leaving her with bruising.
For weeks, Lewandowski (and Trump) denied that Fields had been touched and downplayed her allegations. Eventually, video from the room where the incident occurred was released clearly showing that Fields had been grabbed. Lewandowski was charged with misdemeanour battery, but officials declined to prosecute.
Lewandowski was fired two months later.
Carter Page.
Carter Page
Former campaign adviser
Subject of a federal counterintelligence investigation beginning in October 2016.
Page was one of several people named as an adviser to the Trump campaign in March 2016. At the time, Trump was seeking to bolster perceptions that he was up to the presidency and the appointment of a foreign-policy team was meant to show that he had serious advisers backing his effort.
Page, an energy industry executive, had been on the FBI's radar for years, after a federal counterintelligence investigation recorded a suspected Russian agent mentioning Page as a possible target for espionage work.
Over the course of 2016, Page travelled to Russia twice. In July, he met with a deputy prime minister while in Moscow for a speech. Former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele - hired earlier in the year to investigate ties between Trump and Russia - was told that there was more to Page's conversations than he let on.
In October, the FBI sought a warrant to surveil Page. It was granted and eventually extended several times to continue allowing federal authorities to track his communications. No charges have been filed against Page.
Pleaded guilty to making false statements in October.
Papadopoulos, like Page, was appointed as an adviser to the campaign in March 2016. Shortly after earning that position, he was approached by a London-based professor named Joseph Mifsud who allegedly has ties to the Russian Government. In April, Mifsud informed Papadopoulos that the Russians had emails incriminating Hillary Clinton, a revelation that Papadopoulos later shared with an Australian diplomat.
When documents stolen from the Democratic National Committee were leaked in June and July 2016, the Australians told the FBI what Papadopoulos had said. That launched the broader investigation into ties between Russian interference efforts and the Trump campaign.
A week after Trump is inaugurated, Papadopoulos is questioned by the FBI. He misleads investigators on his conversations with Mifsud, deception to which he later admits. In July 2017, he's arrested and agrees to work with the investigation. He pleaded guilty to one charge of making false statements in early October.
Charged with more than two dozen criminal counts ranging from conspiracy to money laundering to obstruction of justice to bank fraud in October, February and June. Trial is underway.
Manafort was hired by the Trump campaign before Lewandowski was fired after which point he stepped into the lead role. He'd worked on a number of campaigns but had earned a reputation for being willing to work with controversial figures including Russian oligarchs and dictators.
In October, investigators working with Special Counsel Robert Mueller obtained an indictment against Manafort for a broad range of alleged crimes largely centered on his work for the former president of Ukraine and his alleged efforts to hide money he'd been paid. In February, Mueller's team added new charges and, in June, Manafort was charged with having tried to obstruct the investigation into his actions by trying to influence a witness.
While many of the alleged crimes predate his time with Trump's campaign, it's clear that his actions during that period are also of interest to Mueller. Manafort is on trial in Virginia.
Pleaded guilty to making false statements in November.
Flynn was an early and enthusiastic backer of Trump who parlayed that loyalty into a gig as national security adviser. It was short-lived.
The Washington Post reported that Flynn, already tapped for an administration role, had spoken to former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in December 2016.
Pressed to say whether the conversation had included discussion of sanctions imposed by the Administration of Barack Obama, Flynn at first denied it. That's apparently what he told others on Trump's team, too: Vice President-elect Mike Pence assured an interviewer in January 2017 that Flynn had had no such conversation. It wasn't true. Flynn was eventually fired for misleading Pence.
He also misled the FBI in an interview that January. In late November, he admitted making a false statement to investigators and is awaiting sentencing.
Flynn's most infamous moment during the campaign came during a speech at the Republican convention in July.
"If I did a tenth of what she did," he said, referring to Clinton, "I would be in jail today."
Rick Gates.
Rick Gates
Former deputy campaign chairman
Originally charged with more than two dozen criminal counts, Gates eventually pleaded guilty to two, conspiracy and making false statements, in February.
Gates came to the Trump campaign with his longtime business partner Manafort, serving as deputy campaign chairman. At first, he faced a similar array of criminal charges as his former boss, but in February agreed to cooperate with Mueller's investigators in exchange for admitting guilt on two counts.
This week, he appeared at Manafort's trial and admitted a broad array of criminal activity, some of which, he testified, came at Manafort's behest. Like Manafort, none of the charges deal specifically with actions undertaken while he was employed by the campaign or during the transition period while he was still in Trump's employ.
Under investigation by the Department of Justice reportedly for tax fraud.
In April, federal investigators raided Cohen's home and office in New York City, seizing thousands of documents and files (including some audio recordings).
It's not clear what charges Cohen might face from the investigation by the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, but the Wall Street Journal reported that he was likely at least being investigated for failing to properly pay taxes on income from his taxi business.
Cohen may also be at risk for campaign finance violations stemming from his role in paying US$130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about her allegations of a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.
Cohen's role with the Trump campaign was informal but involved both providing advisory work to Trump personally and occasionally appearing on television to offer insights into how the campaign was doing.
The investigation stemmed in part from information provided to the Department of Justice by Mueller's team.
Congressman Chris Collins.
Chris Collins
First congressional endorser
Charged with conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud and false statements.
As noted above, Collins, an early Trump endorser, was charged with 11 criminal counts today. They include conspiracy to commit securities fraud, securities fraud and, like others above, offering false statements to investigators.
