The Saga of Paul Manafort Continues
Just a few weeks ago it seemed that Paul Manafort’s legal issues were settled. In New York he had been convicted of enough fraud and money-laundering charges to keep him in jail for the rest of his life and he had entered a plea deal with the Mueller investigation that seemed to cancel out the charges due to be filed in Washington D.C. However, a few days ago Robert Mueller announced that Manafort had broken the deal by lying to his investigators. Now Manafort is back in the hot seat.
What’s going on in Manafort’s horoscope? (Click here to see a partial horoscope done for noon on Manafort’s date of birth.) Transiting Saturn has moved into a square to his natal Venus and his natal Mars. Saturn aspects to Mars can bring about desperate, self-defeating behavior. It’s like the irresistible force (Mars) meeting the immovable authority (Saturn) only, in this case, the irresistible force is greatly overmatched.
No one seems quite sure of why Manafort has made this surprising move. One idea that has been floated is that he has reason to believe that President Trump will grant him a pardon. The fact that Saturn is also square Venus might support this notion. Venus can represent friends as well as lovers and maybe Manafort thinks his old buddy Donald will help him out. Unfortunately for Paul, giving a presidential pardon to a person who’s in jail for refusing to provide evidence against the president is the very definition of obstruction of justice. It’s not that Trump wouldn’t think of doing this, it’s just unlikely that his lawyers would let him.
Another astrological explanation would be that Manafort is an Aries by Sun sign and, Aries people go down fighting. The fact that they may be doing more harm to themselves than to their opponent is not a concern. An Aries will take twenty blows just to have the satisfaction of landing one clean punch. Faced with capitulating to Mueller and his team, Manafort couldn’t resist the urge to lash out one last time.
There is also conjecture about how the loss of Manafort’s cooperation will affect the Mueller investigation. Some say that it is a significant defeat. Others point to the fact that Mueller’s people knew Manafort was lying, which indicates that he was simple being used to corroborate evidence that they already have. Personally, I think the most significant point in the investigation was reached last week with President Trump turned over written answers to a list of questions Mueller had for the President. I think Manafort is, at best, a side show.
Of course, no one is going to know for sure what Manafort’s about-face means until Mueller turns in is report. As I’ve said, I think that the opposition to Mueller’s natal Saturn by transiting Saturn signaled the completion of the special prosecutors work. What he’s doing now is tying up lose ends, and maybe waiting for Democrats to take over the House of Representatives.
