Obama Admin Pressured Ukraine to Investigate Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort
Former federal prosecutor reveals push to investigate Trump official in 2016
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Former President Barack Obama's administration pressured Ukraine officials to investigate Donald Trump's campaign manager, Paul Manafort, in 2016, according to an ex-top US prosecutor.
Former federal prosecutor Andrew C. McCarthy noted Thursday that Obama’s White House asked Ukraine to investigate Manafort in the run-up to the last presidential election.
The flashback of information comes as Democrats announced this week they are pursuing impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.
When Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the launch of the impeachment inquiry, she cited the recent whistleblower complaint about Trump's now-infamous phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The anonymous intelligence community whistleblower, who admits not hearing the actual phone call, claims President Trump threatened to withhold US military aid unless Ukraine investigates Joe Biden's family ties in the Eastern European country.
When the White House released the transcript from the call on Wednesday, however, while it shows Trump did discuss allegations about Biden, there is no mention of US aid or any other sort of quid-pro-quo, as claimed by Democrats.
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McCarthy notes at National Review the double standard — that Democrats want to impeach Trump for doing what Obama did — and which they have been telling the world for years was necessary to do to protect American national security.
As House Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told NBC News in March, his investigation into Trump dealt with “a present threat to our national security — whether the president and anybody around him are compromised by a foreign power.”
According to Breitbart, if Trump colluded with Russia, or if the Russians had compromising information about him, they could hold enormous influence over the Trump administration — hence the need for an investigation.
That is how Democrats defended the decision by intelligence and law enforcement officials under President Obama to conduct surveillance of Trump campaign associates — without warning Trump himself in a “defensive” briefing.
McCarthy notes that “the Obama administration’s law-enforcement agencies pressured their Ukrainian counterparts to revive a dormant corruption investigation of Paul Manafort” in the middle of the 2016 presidential election.
He cites his recent book, Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency, recently excerpted on Fox News, which reports that Obama administration officials urged Ukrainian prosecutors to investigate Manafort — which amounted to “effectively meddling in the American presidential election.”
The results were soon clear: leaks about Manafort’s activities in Ukraine began to appear in the U.S. media, spun in the worst possible light.
He was replaced at the Trump campaign and became a target in the phony “collusion” narrative.
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McCarthy notes the glaring double standard: “When the Obama administration leans on Ukraine for help in an investigation of political opponents, the Democrats and the media say, 'But look how corrupt Paul Manafort was!'
"When the Trump administration leans on Ukraine for help in an investigation of political opponents, the Democrats and the media say, 'Abuse of power — impeach him!'
Two key differences: there is actual evidence of former Vice President Joe Biden extorting the Ukrainian government; and Trump has released the transcript of his conversation with the new Ukrainian president.
Only one administration has been transparent.
