Minnesota Rabbi Busted In Underage Sex Sting Sentenced To Probation

forward

Rabbi Aryeh Cohen, a popular Minneapolis rabbi, was sentenced to three years probation on Wednesday after being caught by police in a child sex sting last year, TC Jewfolk reported.

Ramsey County Sheriff’s O...

The police photo of Cohen.

Rabbi Aryeh Cohen, a popular Minneapolis rabbi, was sentenced to three years probation on Wednesday after being caught by police in a child sex sting last year, TC Jewfolk reported.

Read more: https://forward.com/fast-forward/417771/minnesota-rabbi-busted-in-underage-sex-sting-sentenced-to-probation/

Ramsey County Sheriff’s O...

The police photo of Cohen.

Rabbi Aryeh Cohen, a popular Minneapolis rabbi, was sentenced to three years probation on Wednesday after being caught by police in a child sex sting last year, TC Jewfolk reported.

Read more: https://forward.com/fast-forward/417771/minnesota-rabbi-busted-in-underage-sex-sting-sentenced-to-probation/

Who Wrote the Late Volumes of Igrot Moshe?

seforimblog

Though this article deals with a factual question, it often seems to devolve into an ideological one. I therefore wish to state: I have no horse in this fight. I have not taken halakhic positions from Igrot Moshe volumes 7-9. I went into this with a genuinely open mind, and in the course of researching this question, I have taken the affirmative and negative sides of this question at different points.

Ever since Igrot Moshe volume 8 was published, and to a lesser degree volume 7, people have cast aspersions or directly accused it of being a forgery. The claim, generally, has been some variation of direct accusation or insinuation that somebody, usually either one of the Tendlers or R. Shabtai Rappaport, inserted his own teshuvot into the volume. Volume 9 is, as they say, ‘right out’. Some even call these volumes ‘Igrot Moshe David’.

As an example, Hirhurim several years ago published this quote from R. J.D. Bleich, though the comment thread is likely a better example.

Given

the preponderance of evidence that the later Igrot

Moshe volumes

are real (and spectacular), I think we can put the various theories

of alternative authorship to rest. The claims of the editors — that

the latest teshuvot were

dictated[6] — explains the ‘steroid spike’, and all available

evidence supports their central contention, that they didn’t change

the actual content. In short: it’s legit.

Timesunion

In the quest to "liberate" women, pro-choice feminists in New York have rallied around the Reproductive Health Act. Many buzz phrases have circulated to describe the RHA's meaning, such as "Abortion is not a crime" and "Abortion is health care," but beyond these buzz words lie the RHA's real implications: It dehumanizes the disabled; healthy, viable humans in utero; children who are aborted but born alive; and pregnant victims of domestic violence.

By completely gutting abortion from New York's criminal law, the RHA removes the state's only prosecutorial tool for holding violent abusers accountable for the death of wanted unborn children. Studies show that domestic violence escalates during pregnancy. New York's version of a fetal homicide law lies within the abortion provisions of its penal law, which the RHA repeals.

If reproductive freedom and equality lie at the heart of the RHA, as pro-choice feminists claim, how could the bill's drafters have overlooked this injustice? How could any feminist strip away the right of a woman to prosecute a violent partner for killing her wanted fetus? Depriving women of the opportunity to punish violent partners for killing their wanted unborn children is anti-woman.

The RHA dehumanizes viable, healthy humans in utero — who could survive outside the womb — by enacting a broad rather than a narrow health exception to New York's current ban on third-trimester abortions.

The RHA dehumanizes the disabled by explicitly permitting the unimpeded destruction of unborn children incapable of surviving outside the womb during the third trimester of pregnancy.

The RHA dehumanizes yet another class of humans, namely infants born alive during abortions — which does occur, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The RHA fully repeals state Public Health Law 4164, which requires that after the 20th week of pregnancy, a separate doctor be present to provide life-saving treatment to children who survive abortions. The current law also affords them civil rights. Without PHL 4164, it is unclear what protections children who survive abortion would have.

From a pro-life feminist perspective, the RHA warps women's rights to bodily integrity and individual autonomy and undermines basic human rights. For a group of people such as women, who have long endured historic dehumanization, the RHA should be embarrassing.

Stop the Back Alley Abortion Act

https://citizengo.org/en/node/168065?tc=ty&tcid=53311689

Governor Cuomo and Hillary Clinton want to make New York the most pro-abortion state in the country. The Reproductive Health Act, also known as the Back Alley Abortion Act, would guarantee abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy, prohibit born-alive protections for babies who survive botched abortions, and eliminate any and all health and safety regulations relating to abortion from the New York criminal code. If this Act passes into law, New York would become a magnet for abortionists like Kermit Gosnell.

Please sign and share the petition to stop this radical abortion bill from becoming law.

At a rally just a few days ago, Hillary Clinton and Governor Cuomo (the man who said pro-lifers are not welcome in his state) told a cheering crowd of radical leftists that the new law was necesary to protect New York from President Trump's new Supreme Court appointments.  However, the law would actually go even further than Roe v. Wade, declaring abortion to be a fundamental human right. This would jeopardize the freedom of conscience of medical professionals from collaborating and participating in abortions.

The state of New York already has twice the abortion rate than the national average, and New York alone has over 200 abortuaries.  Also, keeping in line with the racist and eugenic roots of abortion, a majority of the roughly 120,000 children killed by abortion in New York every year are children of color from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

For many years, the Republican New York Senate held back the legislation. But a new wave of radical progressive Senators have taken over the state senate, and they have vowed to fast-track the legislation in order to pass it on January 22, in honor of Roe v. Wade.

To summarize, the legislation it would:

1. Eliminate any and all penalties related to abortion from the New York criminal code. This includes the repeal of a section of New York law that requires medical assistance to be provided to babies who survive an abortion.  What this means is New York will allow abortion through all nine months of pregnancy and even after birth.
2. It will declare abortion a fundamental right. This means that pro-life doctors and nurses, or even "pro-choice" doctors who, for whatever reason, do not wish to commit an abortion, could be forced to carry them out.
3. It will eliminate the current requirement that a doctor supervise a late-term abortion.  Under the new law, practically anyone will be able to commit dangerous late-term abortions.

The Back Alley Abortion Act is the most radical abortion law in the history of the United States. Its aim is to completely dehumanize the child in the womb and deregulate the business of killing them.  

 

Please sign and share this petition to stop this radical abortion bill from becoming law.

This petition has been created by a citizen or association not affiliated with CitizenGO. CitizenGO is not responsible for its contents.

Petition to: New York Legislators

Stop the Back Alley Abortion Act

The so called "Reproductive Health Act" will make back alley abortions the accepted norm in the state of New York. Abortion always intends to kill one patient (the unborn child), but if this bill becomes law, it will make abortion increasingly dangerous for the mother, eliminating any and all restrictions, even on late-term abortions. If this bill passes, New York will become the Wild West of abortion, where absolutely anything goes.

The MAGA Teenager Who Harassed a Native American Veteran Is Still Unnamed, but We’ve Seen His Face Before

slate

A video clip of a white teenager harassing a Native American elder instantly became one of the most viscerally enraging images of an era that has offered no shortage of them.

In the clip, captured during the Indigenous Peoples March in Washington on Friday, an elderly Native American man beats a drum and quietly sings, and a small group of activists and allies can be seen in the crowd behind him. Perhaps 18 inches in front of him, a white teenager in a “Make America Great Again” hat makes eye contact and smirks. A much larger crowd of teenagers—mostly male, mostly white, many wearing MAGA hats—hoots with delight at the wordless confrontation. The encounter was captured from multiple angles and circulated widely on YouTube and social media, generating widespread disgust.

Indian Country Today reported Saturday that the elder is Nathan Phillips, a Vietnam War veteran who holds an annual ceremony honoring Native veterans at Arlington National Cemetery. The boy has yet to be identified, but he was visiting Washington with a group from Covington Catholic High School, an all-boys college preparatory school in northern Kentucky. The group was in Washington to attend the March for Life, an annual anti-abortion rally that attracts tens of thousands of demonstrators, including many groups of young people from churches and private schools. The event’s stated ideal is “a world where the beauty and dignity of every human life are valued and protected.” (The Diocese of Covington and Covington Catholic High School issued a statement on Saturday apologizing to Phillips and Native Americans in general, and said it is investigating punishments that may include expulsion.)

The encounter between the teenager and the older man didn’t end in violence. They apparently didn’t even exchange words. Why, then, did this unexploded grenade of a moment read as so fundamentally disturbing—and spread so quickly? There’s the ahistorical idiocy of 

trump stops congressional flights because of shutdown

foxnews.

President Trump on Thursday abruptly denied military aircraft to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for a foreign trip just minutes before the congressional delegation was set to depart, in a stunning decision that followed her call to delay the State of the Union address amid the government shutdown.

In a curt letter, Trump said her trip has been “postponed.”

“Due to the Shutdown, I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt, and Afghanistan has been postponed. We will reschedule this seven-day excursion when the Shutdown is over. In light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay, I am sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate,” Trump wrote.

but his wife still permitted

dailymail

Shutdown? What shutdown? Melania flies to Mar-a-Lago in Air Force jet despite her husband grounding Nancy Pelosi AND canceling top officials' trip to Davos

• Melania Trump was in route to Mar-a-Lago on an Air Force jet as President Donald Trump grounded Speaker Pelosi's government plane to Afghanistan
• An Air Force plane with the first lady's call sign was spotted in route to Florida 
• Additionally, President Trump canceled his administration's trip to Davos
• The cancelation came after Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff slammed the administration for canceling Pelosi's trip when they had foreign travel scheduled
• The White House move came after Pelosi sent Trump a letter saying he should not give the State of the Union address on Jan. 29 if there is still a shutdown
• Trump sent her a letter in reply saying he was canceling her travel so negotiations on reopening the government could continue 

Chofets Chaim Biur Halacha 427:1 calendar accuracy

Report: Trump peace plan will divide Jerusalem

.israelnationalnews

Will the “Deal of the Century” peace plan of the Trump administration demand far-reaching concessions from Israel?

Hadashot 13 reported that the peace plan formulated by the White House and which President Trump is interested in presenting in the coming months includes the establishment of a Palestinian state in about 90 percent of Judea and Samaria, with at least part of eastern Jerusalem as its capital.

The report, which was quoted from an American source, said that the Americans would demand that isolated settlements outside the blocs not be expanded and outposts considered illegal by Israeli law be evacuated.

The source claimed that the Palestinian state would be built on more than twice the total area of Areas ​​A and B under the control of the Palestinian Authority today.

He added that Trump would seek to divide Jerusalem from a sovereign perspective into two capitals - Israel's in the west of the city and parts of eastern Jerusalem, and the Palestinian one in the Arab neighborhoods of eastern Jerusalem.

Trump gave Putin the 'gift of the century' in plain sight while the FBI probed him as a Russian agent

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-gives-putin-gift-of-the-century-fbi-prob
es-him-as-a-russian-spy-2019-1

• President Donald Trump spent the first two years of his presidency doing something Russian leaders have attempted since 1949: pushing NATO to the brink of irrelevance.
• Now it's come out that the FBI reportedly investigated Trump as a possible Russian asset as he publicly and privately talked about withdrawing from the alliance.
• Trump has succeeded where decades of Russian nuclear saber rattling, spying, assassinations, and information warfare have failed to fray the alliance.
• According to experts, Russian President Vladimir Putin is loving Trump's attacks on NATO, and a former NATO supreme commander called Trump's talk the "gift of the century" for the Russian leader.

President Donald Trump spent the first two years of his presidency doing something Russian leaders have attempted since 1949: pushing NATO to the brink of irrelevance.

And Trump reportedly did so while under investigation by the FBI as a possible Russian agent all along.

A trio of bombshell reports gave depth to years of reporting and public spectacles that indicate Trump has an openly antagonistic, skeptical view of the military alliance that's expanded American power and deterred a great war in Europe for 70 years.

In Grief, Try Personal Rituals

.theatlantic

Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it,”
 writes Joan Didion in The Year of Magical Thinking.
 “We might expect if the death is sudden to feel shock.
We do not expect the shock to be obliterative, dislocating to both
body and mind.”

We cannot know, she says, when we lose the person we love—
as she lost her husband John Gregory Dunne 11 years ago—
“the unending absence that follows, the void, the very opposite of
meaning, the relentless succession of moments during
which we will confront the experience of meaninglessness itself
.”The tragedy of such grief is that the loss of a loved one is irreversible.
It is total and final.

Even so, while some of the grief-stricken remain depressed for long
periods of time—developing what’s called “complicated grief”
—most people move on. They eventually settle into their old routines
 or develop new ones. Their lives recover a semblance of order.
Sad though they may continue to be, they are no longer held
hostage by the chaos of their emotions. They are resilient.

George Bonanno, a clinical psychologist at Columbia University and
 author of The Other Side of Sadness, has studied grief for over 20
 years. Among his most provocative findings is that 50 to
60 percent of mourners show no symptoms of grief one month
 following the loss. Some even overcome the grief within days.

• 
  

Trump doubles down on border wall, as polls show voters turning against his shutdown strategy

.foxnews

President Trump used an address Monday to the American Farm Bureau convention to dig in on his call for a border wall, even as new polling indicates most Americans oppose his administration’s strategy of demanding money for the U.S.-Mexico barrier in exchange for ending the partial government shutdown.

Speaking in New Orleans, Trump said there was “no substitute” for a physical barrier along the southern border with Mexico and accused Democrats of playing politics in refusing to negotiate on the issue.

“They think if they stop me, it’ll be good for 2020,” Trump said of Democrats in Congress. “We need that barrier. … If you don’t have that barrier there, there is not a thing you can do.”

But as the partial shutdown enters its fourth week and hundreds of thousands of federal workers miss their first paychecks, fresh polling suggests the president is losing the battle of public opinion.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Monday found that 63 percent of voters agree with the Democratic proposal to reopen parts of the government that do not involve border security, with 30 percent opposed. The same poll found 63 percent also oppose using the shutdown to force wall funding, with just 32 percent supporting.

The poll found that 56 percent of American voters blame Trump and Republicans in Congress for the partial shutdown, compared with 36 percent who say Democrats are responsible.

An earlier Washington Post-ABC News poll also found more Americans blame Trump and the Republicans than the Democrats over the stalemate -- though the same survey showed support for a wall growing to 42 percent, up from 34 percent a year ago.

But as the partial shutdown enters its fourth week and hundreds of thousands of federal workers miss their first paychecks, fresh polling suggests the president is losing the battle of public opinion.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Monday found that 63 percent of voters agree with the Democratic proposal to reopen parts of the government that do not involve border security, with 30 percent opposed. The same poll found 63 percent also oppose using the shutdown to force wall funding, with just 32 percent supporting.

The poll found that 56 percent of American voters blame Trump and Republicans in Congress for the partial shutdown, compared with 36 percent who say Democrats are responsible.

An earlier Washington Post-ABC News poll also found more Americans blame Trump and the Republicans than the Democrats over the stalemate -- though the same survey showed support for a wall growing to 42 percent, up from 34 percent a year ago.

Donald Trump falsely says there's 'never' been so many border apprehensions

politifact

Surrounded by Texas’ Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, and by Border Patrol agents, President Donald Trump said people from the Middle East and all over the world were coming through the southern border and that a barrier is needed to prevent them from coming in.

He also said there have never been as many apprehensions as there are now. That’s verifiably wrong.

"Whether it’s steel or concrete, you don't care. We need a barrier, and they have done a fantastic job," Trump said Jan. 10. "Never so many apprehensions ever in our history."

By multiple metrics, Trump’s claim doesn’t add up.

Trump’s statement is inaccurate. We rate it False.

Carl Bernstein: Trump helped Putin destabilize US

Is Your Partner Jealous of Your Child?

psychcentral

When you met your partner and fell in love you probably dreamed and eventually planned out a life together. For many this plan included the possibility of children. Fast-forward to having one or more children and all is perfect, right? Maybe not.

Life has a way of taking you through unexpected twists and turns and rarely, if ever, does it turn out the way you anticipated. What if one of those unexpected twists however, is your partner’s jealousy of your children?

A partner feeling jealous of his or her children is not uncommon. Children create a new dynamic within a relationship and many changes occur. It is nearly impossible to fully prepare yourself for all of them and, no matter how much you try to anticipate your own feelings and responses, you cannot.

Generally speaking, children bring a lot of joy into a relationship. But they also bring a lot of stress. Time that was once shared by the two of you is now shared by the three (or more) of you. For both partners this change can cause feelings of resentment and jealously. Because these are not considered appropriate emotions when it comes to your children, they rarely get discussed.

Jealousy in Men

Men in particular are susceptible to feelings of jealousy, especially during the infant and toddler years. Your man, who may have been the picture of a doting father-to-be, now finds himself an outsider and onlooker to a very unique bond. A bond with which he feels he cannot participate or compete.

Even as the children become more independent, a mother’s reaction to her children and her protective nature may feel exclusionary to her partner. Mother’s often immerse themselves in a child’s world and that can leave very little room for the world that existed before.

A man may feel abandoned and lonely. Where he once was the recipient of his partner’s affection and interaction, she is now completely focused on the care and well-being of this new human being. He may feel pushed aside as though he and the dog are now the only members of their own, lonely hearts club.

This can lead to jealousy of the time and affection the child is receiving. Jealousy can be a very damaging emotion. In some cases a man might become resentful disdainful of his partner and treat her poorly, in other cases a man might lose interest in his household and family and seek the companionship of others. Other men may just become withdrawn and emotionally aloof.

FBI investigates Trump as a possible security threat

Psychology Has a New Approach to Building Healthier Men

TheAtlantic

This week, the American Psychological Association, the country’s largest professional organization of psychologists, did something for men that it’s done for many other demographic groups in the past: It introduced a set of detailed guidelines for clinicians who treat men and boys. The 10 guidelines make suggestions on how to encourage fathers to engage with their kids, how to address problems that disproportionately affect men, like suicide and substance abuse, and how to steer men toward healthy behaviors. The guidelines’ development began in 2005, and has included input from more than 200 physicians and researchers.

Ths emphasis on understanding the issues men face comes at a crucial time, according to Ryon McDermott, a psychologist who helped the APA craft its new standards. Although people of all genders face no shortage of obstacles in America, “men are struggling,” he says. “The recession has hit men harder than women, men are less likely to graduate from college, men are more likely to complete suicide than women.” To help patients, the guidelines assert, psychologists need to understand what’s making their lives untenable. For a lot of men, it might be the harsh cultural expectations that can come along with manhood itself.

Blow to low carb diet as landmark study finds high fibre cuts heart disease risk

Theguardian

Eating more fibre, found in wholegrain cereals, pasta and bread as well as nuts and pulses, will cut people’s chances of heart disease and early death, according to a landmark review commissioned by the World HealthOrganization.

The authors of the review, which will inform forthcoming WHO guidelines, say their findings are good news – but incompatible with fashionable low-carb diets.

Mann told the Guardian that the research “does contribute to the debate considerably. Here we have got very strong evidence that a high-fibre diet, which for the majority of people is at least high-ish in carbohydrates, has an enormous protective effect – a wide range of diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer benefit from a high-carbohydrate diet.”

But he said it would not end the “diet wars”, because there were so many vested interests involved. “It’s twofold. There is the commercial vested interest, which there is an enormous amount of from chefs and celebrity chefs and so on. And there is also the professional vested interest.” This included some doctors and scientists, he said.

The review found that we should be eating at least 25g to 29g of fibre a day, with indications that over 30g is even better. Most people in the world manage less than 20g.

Among those who ate the most fibre, the analysis found a 15-30% reduction in deaths from all causes, as well as those related to the heart, compared with those eating the least fibre.

Coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer were reduced by 16-24%. The results mean 13 fewer deaths and six fewer cases of coronary heart disease for every 1,000 people who eat high-fibre foods compared with those who do not.

Minimally processed fibrous foods can also help people lose weight. “The randomised controlled trials involving an increase in the intake of whole grains showed reduction in body weight and cholesterol,” says the paper published in the Lancet medical journal.

“Fibre-rich whole foods that require chewing and retain much of their structure in the gut increase satiety and help weight control and can favourably influence lipid and glucose levels,” said Mann.

It was very difficult to have high levels of fibre on a low-carbohydrate diet unless you took fibre supplements, said Mann. And “there isn’t the huge body of evidence that we’re talking about” for supplements being beneficial, he said, adding that “it’s pretty well impossible” to get enough fibre from fruit and vegetables alone.

ALLEGED VICTIM OF ABUSE DEMANDS RABBI BE CONDEMNED, SUES FORMER YESHIVA

jpost

Amitai Dan, 34, was a pupil in the prestigious Horev high school yeshiva in Jerusalem where Elon served as dean from 1987 to 2002, studying there for just one year in 2002 during grade 11.

Dan alleges that during a private meeting he had with Elon in the dean’s office to discuss personal issues, Elon touched him, stroked him, and embraced him in an inappropriately sexual manner and sought to touch his genitals, which Dan resisted.

He said that when Elon was touching him in this way he asked explicitly if such touching was permitted in Jewish law and that the rabbi told him it was.

Dan was shocked and traumatized by the incident. At first he had trouble even reconciling the fact that his yeshiva dean who he respected had acted in this way, and then tried to dismiss the incident altogether and push it out of his memory.

During the 16 years that passed, including the period of Elon’s trial and conviction for two counts of indecent assault by force against a minor, Dan says that he did not come forward with his complaints because it was hard to break the societal taboo of stating in public that he had been sexually molested and that the incident and other events in his life had presented him with challenges that he needed to overcome.

The latest allegations against Elon are that he sexually molested another young man after his 2013 conviction when he was trying to rehabilitate his public image and had begun teaching again and receiving people in private for consultation.

Dan says that this was the final straw for him as he saw those who had refused to condemn, censure and cast out Elon as having failed in their duty to protect the community.

One such figure was Rabbi Haim Druckman, perhaps the most senior and influential rabbinic figure in the National-Religious community, who publicly backed Elon after his conviction, telling the media that the judge had made a mistake in convicting the rabbi.

Druckman said that Elon should not be invalidated as a teacher and invited Elon to deliver lectures at his flagship yeshiva Ohr Etzion in Merkaz Shapira, close to Ashdod, where Druckman lives and serves as rabbi of the town.

The most recent complainant revealed audio and video footage of the assault to three rabbis, including Druckman, and the three instructed Elon to cease his public activities and seek professional help.

Druckman has yet to make any public comment on the affair or apologize for having publicly supported Elon after his conviction in 2013.

“There are rabbis who think they know everything, and rabbis who make mistakes,” Dan told The Jerusalem Post.

Did Democrats reverse border wall position after Donald Trump was elected?

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2019/jan/09/donald-trump/trump-democrats-reverse-border-wall-position/

Our ruling

Trump said Schumer has "has repeatedly supported a physical barrier in the past along with many other Democrats. They changed their mind only after I was elected president."

Schumer, along with tens of other Democrats including former President Barack Obama, voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which authorized building a fence along about 700 miles of the border between the United States and Mexico. That’s the majority of the barrier in place today along the southern border.

However, the fence was mocked as a "nothing wall" by Trump in the past and was far less ambitious, both politically and physically, than the wall Trump wants to build now.

Finally, Trump says the Democrats no longer support their previous position simply because he wants it. But Democrats have actually proposed current funding for the fencing that was approved in 2006. 

We rate this statement Mostly False.

Why the latest Paul Manafort news is a very big deal

cnn.

On Tuesday we learned -- thanks to a redaction error in a filing in the special counsel's investigation into Russian interference -- that Paul Manafort met with a Russian-linked operative named Konstantin Kilimnik during the course of the 2016 campaign. And in that meeting, according to special counsel Robert Mueller's office, Manafort discussed policies related to the Russia-Ukraine relationship and shared polling data about the 2016 campaign with Kilimnik.

That. Is. Huge.

You'll remember that President Donald Trump's constant refrain when it comes to Manafort, who has already been convicted of a series of financial crimes related to his dealing with the Ukrainian government, is that any and all charges against him happened well before he entered Trump's orbit.

"Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign," tweeted Trump in October 2017. "But why aren't Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus????"

Which, until we got a look at the accidentally unredacted material on Tuesday, was true! While you could argue -- and many people have -- that Trump should have done his due diligence on Manafort, who had spent years advising foreign governments, before hiring him to run his campaign in the spring of 2016, it was hard to dispute Trump's main point that any and all wrongdoing by Manafort happened prior to his being involved with Trump.

Except, not now.

Manafort, according to the filings, had conversations with Kilimnik, who is suspected to be a member of the Russian intelligence organization, while he was serving as the head of Trump's campaign. (Manafort's official title was "campaign chairman" but functioned as campaign manager during his time with Trump.) Those conversations apparently came even as Russian officials were hacking into the email servers at the Democratic National Committee -- which led to a series of damaging leaks via the website WikiLeaks later in 2016.