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-mueller-knew-report/?utm_sour
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It Turns Out Anti-Trump 'Black Ledger' Was 'Completely Made Up,' and Mueller
Knew - Report
By Johnathan Jones
<https://www.westernjournal.co
dium=conservative-brief-CT&ff_
ne>
Published February 10, 2020 at 2:13pm
According to a new report by investigative journalist John Solomon, a key
piece of evidence used to justify Robert Mueller's investigation of alleged
links between associates of President Donald Trump and Russian officials has
been proven to be a complete fabrication.
Solomon, a Fox News contributor who previously wrote for The Hill and has
been working
<https://www.westernjournal.co
aint-charging-biden-not-trump-
vative-brief-CT&ff_campaign=da
illuminate alleged corruption in Ukraine by former Vice President Joe Biden
and other Democrats, reports that the infamous "black ledger" that was used
to investigate and convict former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was
completely bogus.
The ledger emerged in Kiev during the 2016 election and purported to show
that Manafort had taken cash payments from Russian-backed politicians in
Ukraine for his work as a consultant in the region.
Solomon wrote Thursday in his new media venture, Just the News,
<https://justthenews.com/key-w
ence-found.html> that according to a written summary of an April 2018
special counsel interview, former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates told
federal investigators working for Mueller that the ledger was "completely
made up."
Gates, a former longtime business associate of Manafort's, cooperated with
the former FBI director's investigation in 2018. In exchange for a reduced
sentence, Gates gave investigators information that ultimately helped to
convict Manafort of multiple financial and fraud crimes.
However, Gates stated during the investigation that he believed the document
was a fraud, according to Solomon.
Following an interview with Gates this past week, Solomon wrote:
"Gates confirmed the information in the summary. 'The black ledger was a
fabrication,' Gates said. 'It was never real, and this fact has since been
proven true.'
"Gates' account is backed by several Ukrainian officials who stated in
interviews dating to 2018 that the ledger was of suspicious origins and
could not be corroborated."
During his interview with investigators, Gates reportedly stated that the
information in the ledger was inconsistent with how former Ukrainian
President Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions paid consultants, such as
Manafort, Solomon reported.
Further calling into question the veracity of the ledger, Gates stated that
Yanukovych's pro-Russian political party lost all official accounting
records in a fire during Ukraine's 2014 Maidan uprising.
Gates told prosecutors the ledger was a "copy of a document that did not
exist" and that the handwriting inside did not match that of the accountant
who would have authored such a ledger.
He also told investigators that a New York Times report outlining the
contents of the ledger contained inaccurate information. Solomon reported
that Gates told Mueller's team, "The article was completely false."
A 2016 Times article
<https://www.nytimes.com/2016/
l> that first reported the existence of the ledger alleged that between
2007 and 2012, Manafort was paid $12.7 million in under-the-table cash
payments from Yanukovych's pro-Russian party.
Gates and Manafort were indicted
<https://www.justice.gov/file/
conspiracy, money laundering and other alleged crimes. In December, Gates
was sentenced
<https://www.usatoday.com/stor
nd-key-russia-probe-witness-ri
to 45 days in jail, three years probation and a $20,000 fine. Manafort is
serving
<https://www.westernjournal.co
l-manaforts-fraud-charges-new-
rief-CT&ff_campaign=dailyam&ff
seven-and-a-half-year sentence for tax fraud and other charges that stemmed
from Mueller's investigation.
The ledger, along with the infamous Steele dossier, was instrumental in
orchestrating a fraudulent narrative that Trump and his associates colluded
with foreign officials to influence the 2016 election.
Now, the integrity of both documents has been shredded.
Two weeks ago, former U.K Parliament member Rupert Allason conducted a
forensic analysis of former British intelligence officer Christopher
Steele's work on the infamous and now-discredited dossier outlining alleged
Russian interference in the 2016 election and coordination between Trump
campaign aides and Russian officials.
Allason concluded
<https://www.thetimes.co.uk/ar
tape-dtmzdg25q> there was "a strong possibility that all Steele's material
has been fabricated."
Since the date of his inauguration, Trump has had to work under a cloud of
never-ending partisan investigations.
It is becoming increasingly apparent that the foundations of those
investigations were built on untruths and disinformation.
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our
editorial standards
<https://www.westernjournal.co
Email&ff_medium=conservative-b
ative-tribune> .
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Johnathan Jones
<https://www.westernjournal.co
dium=conservative-brief-CT&ff_
ne>
Summary
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Johnathan has authored thousands of news articles throughout his career. He
has also worked as an editor and producer in radio and television. He is a
proud husband and father.
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