“As frequently happens to the great, excellent, very, very top guys Trump surrounds himself with, Papadopoulos is now turning out to be a total loser who nobody has ever heard of. One Trump mouthpiece calls him a coffee boy. ‘Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar.'” NY Mag: Trump Demotes ‘Excellent’ Consultant George Papadopoulos to ‘Low-Level Volunteer. (When Trump Tweetstorms, Mueller doesn’t even look up from his desk.)

+ Manafort “spent decades shuttling to the palaces of exploitative dictators (Ferdinand Marcos, Sani Abacha, Mobuto Sese Seko) and then presenting them to the press and lawmakers as friends of western democracy, perfectly acceptable citizens of the global order.” Franklin Foer: Mueller’s Investigation Is a Rebuke to Kleptocracy.

+ NYT: How a Federal Inquiry Says Paul Manafort Laundered $18 Million, and How He Spent It. (Long story short: He laundered money, but everything else needed to be dry-cleaned.)

+ “For weeks, he continued to try to set himself up as a go-between with Moscow. A virtual unknown in foreign policy circles, he seemed determined to make himself a significant player.” How George Papadopoulos got into hot water.

+ Following an investigative report from ProPublica, the NYT and The Baltimore Sun, Maryland opened an investigation in the Kushner’s real estate practices. (No wonder these guys hate real news…)