By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

Will Glaspy, who recently took charge of the DEA’s Houston office, is no stranger to the drug battle.

Glaspy has spent more than decade battling drug traffickers along the Texas border, reports Click2Houston.com. He tells the station the Mexican cartels still have a strong presence in the Texas region.

Below is an interview with the station.

Rush Limbaugh

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

The conservative media, including radio host Rush Limbaugh, is pushing back, trying to discredit special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and the indictments announced on Monday.

“None of this is real,” Limbaugh told his radio on Monday, according to a report by NPR.

When a listener suggested Mueller had “gone rogue” and might be aiming to sink Trump, Limbaugh responded: “This is the coup. If Hillary had been elected, none of this would be happening, other than they still put Trump in jail as a message to the outsider: Don’t dare try this.”

Conservative media outlets have echoed Limbaugh’s sentiments and tried to focus on Hillary Clinton and the need to investigate her.

Former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, via LinkedIn.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy adviser to President Trump, is the first campaign aide to plead guilty as part of the special counsel’s widening investigation into possible collusion between the president’s associates and the Russian government.

Papadopoulos, 30, who admitted to lying to FBI agents, is also the first aide reach a plea agreement in exchange for cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

The young Greek-American, whom Trump called an “excellent guy” in a March 2016 interview with the Washington Post, was part of a plot to secure a meeting between the future president and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Guardian reports. 

In April 2016, Papadopoulos met with a mysterious London professor who claimed to have “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.”

The potentially game-changing development was announced on the same day Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and adviser Rick Gates surrendered to the FBI and were indicted on numerous charges, including conspiracy, money-laundering and foreign lobbying violations.

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The federal investigation of President Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, began as far back as 2012 because of suspicions of money laundering and serious questions about his relationship with the Ukrainian regime close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The probe centered on at least 13 wire transfers between 2012 and 2013 that were flagged by U.S. financial institutions as suspicious, Buzz Feed reports. 

Authorities were trying to determine whether Manafort concealed money transfers or helped the Ukrainian regime launder money as part of potentially corrupt dealings.

The banks’ “suspicious activity reports” were focused on five offshore companies linked to Manafort: Global Endeavour Inc., Lucicle Consultants Ltd., and three others that appear to have no current contact information.

A longtime political operative, Manafort took over Trump’s campaign in May 2016 before he was forced to resign amid a firestorm of criticism over his dealings with the notoriously corrupt former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.

On Monday morning, Manafort surrendered to FBI officials after the first charges were approved as part of the widening special counsel investigation into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

President Trump responded to news about an escalation in the special counsel investigation into possible collusion between his campaign and Russia by pointing the finger at Hillary Clinton, Democrats, “evil politics,” former FBI Director James Comey and the media.

In one of five morning tweets Sunday, two days after news broke about a federal grand jury’s approving the first charges as part of the special counsel probe, Trump called the probe a “terrible WITCH HUNT for evil politics.”

“facts are pouring out” about ties between Russia and Clinton.

“Never seen such publican ANGER & UNITY as I have concerning the lack of investigation on Clinton made Fake Dossier,” Trump tweeted.

He continued: the Uranium to Russia deal, the  33,000 plus deleted Emails, the Comey fix and so much more. Instead they look at phony Trump/Russia ‘collusion,’ which doesn’t exist.”

Trump complained that there wasn’t a more active investigation into Clinton’s connection to the “Fake Dossier.”

Trump added, “There is so much GUILT by Democrats/Clinton, and now the facts are pouring out. DO SOMETHING!”

Trump even suggested the investigation is an intentional distraction to the Republican’s “big push for historic Tax Cuts & Reform.”

The president asked, “Is this coincidence? NOT!”

Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort turned himself into the FBI on Monday morning, becoming the first person to be charged in connection with Robert Mueller’s wide-ranging investigation.

Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

President Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort surrendered to federal authorities, marking the first arrest as part of a special counsel investigation into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia to disrupt the presidential election.

Manafort’s longtime business partner Robert Gates also has been ordered to surrender in what marks a significant development in an investigation that has cast a long shadow over the White House, multiple news sources reports this morning. 

At 8:15 a.m., Manafort was spotted walking into the FBI’s field office in Washington D.C. with his attorney.

Manafort has been an early focus in the intensifying investigation over allegations that he committed money laundering, violated federal tax laws and failed to disclose the extent of his foreign lobbying.

Gates has been linked to companies that Manafort established to receive payments from movers and shakers in Eastern Europe.

The arrest of Manafort was expected after the FBI raided his home.

With early arrests in large, complex federal investigations, prosecutors often try to offer leniency in exchange for incriminating information about higher-ups.

But people close to Manafort, including his former business partner Roger Stone Jr., insist he doesn’t plan to provide damaging information about the president.

A veteran Republican strategist, Manafort joined the Trump campaign in March 2016 and climbed the ranks of Trump’s campaign until he was running the day-to-day operations.