Political context of Paul Manafort's trial is a negative for Trump

Paul Manafort built a reputation decades ago as available to represent foreign dictators. Over time, the client list included the notorious Suharto in Indonesia, Ferdinand Marcos in The Philippines, Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire, and Sani Abacha in Nigeria.

His work in recent years for the former pro-Kremlin leader of Ukraine, Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych, now occupies the limelight. Unfortunately for Manafort, this lucrative Ukraine interest not only flew poetically in the face of "America First" and "Drain the Swamp" slogans of the Trump campaign he chaired, it also naturally drew interest from Russia-interference prober Robert Mueller.

In a Virginia courtroom on Friday, where Manafort is on trial for tax evasion, money laundering and being an unregistered agent of a foreign principal, among other charges, a former accountant of his gave her story.

Cindy Laporta admitted she had an inkling that what Manafort and his associate Rick Gates told her about funds being transferred into their political consulting business wasn't quite true. Funds from offshore businesses were treated as loans, she testified.

President Donald Trump, in a continuous wave of self-generated anti-Mueller propaganda, attacked the Manafort prosecution and gave a strange defense that compared his former campaign chief to Al Capone. Via Twitter, the view through Trump's funhouse mirror went:

"Looking back on history, who was treated worse, Alfonse Capone, legendary mob boss, killer and “Public Enemy Number One,” or Paul Manafort, political operative & Reagan/Dole darling, now serving solitary confinement — although convicted of nothing? Where is the Russian Collusion?"

A Justice Department memo released last year from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein assigned a probe of possible collusion on Manafort's behalf. But the memo also specifically authorized the special counsel to investigate any crimes related to payments Manafort received from the Yanukovych regime. Any connections between the two remain unclear, but the investigation is ongoing.

It is easy to understand why Trump is upset and sees a need to outshout news reports from the proceedings. Even a vague, tangential association between a fired campaign chairman and this kind of alleged international transgression resonates with the worst suspicions of Trump's critics.

So does the matter of Yanukovych, a Vladimir Putin ally who was forced out of office following deadly clashes between protesters and special police forces. The underlying issue: He'd rejected a pending agreement to associate Ukraine with the European Union.