In Washington D.C. last Monday, while the president was tweeting, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates were being indicted for being charged with money laundering and violations of tax and foreign lobbying laws.

The former Trump aides were the first to be charged for the collusion case that has been all over the news since Trump took office. Both are being tried for false statements, and Gates and Manafort are also being accused of transferring millions from offshore accounts and laundering even more to buy properties and services, respectively.

Manafort created an entity in 2005 for political consulting called Davis Manafort Partners (DMP), which went international in 2011 (DMP International, DMI). This was used for political consultation and lobbying in Ukraine. Gates worked for both firms and, according to the indictment, “served as Manafort’s right-hand man.” A focus was advancement of the pro-Russia political party in the Ukraine, the “Party of Regions.”

“Evidently, this has been going on for many years. Manafort was working for the president of the Ukraine. Now he has close ties to Vladimir Putin, the head of Russia. Either he didn’t think he was doing anything wrong, or he thought he could get away from it,” says History teacher Jay Finkelstein.

“Because Manafort and Gates were directing a campaign to lobby the US on behalf of the government of Ukraine and officials there, the indictment says, they were required to report the work and income. They didn’t and when asked by the Justice Department about it, they lied,” CNN reported.

“They were taking money from a foreign power, and you have to be registered as an agent for a foreign government and evidently, they weren’t,” adds Finkelstein.

“Sometimes people who have a lot of money, in general, sometimes take that for granted. They can get out of sticky situations, such as this,” says Ada Cowan, a freshman.

Donald Trump is not pleased with the investigation. As usual, he blamed it on Hillary Clinton: “Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren’t Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????” He tweeted on Twitter. “….Also, there is NO COLLUSION!” He said in another tweet.

But if the people around him are taking money from Americans, how can he support them? That makes him a hypocrite.

Trump probably shouldn’t support or unsupport them. “I don’t think it’s probably wise at this point. He could be considered trying to influence their case. Right now [Manafort and Gates] have been indicted for a crime, and sometimes if there’s a lot of publicity on a crime, the person can’t get a fair trial, and by the president speaking out, it may hamper [Manafort and Gates] ability to get a fair trial, and that’s called obstruction of justice,” says Finkelstein.

Geometry teacher Andrew Fitts agreed with Mr. Finkelstein: “Well, I don’t think Trump will stand by them because he doesn’t stand by anybody. I don’t think he will, he would only look out for himself and that’s about it. Maybe not even his own son.”

Trump himself would be committing a crime if he gets anymore involved in the case, therefore, the less the president says, the better.

“They should be fired from their jobs and prosecuted since they lied and did all those things that they shouldn’t do,” says Josette Apple, a freshman. “They probably thought because they had power and money, they could manipulate those of less power which isn’t okay.”

The trial does not have a formally set date, but Manafort’s attorney, Kevin Downing suggested April 2018.