Of course he did.

All the three top 2016 candidates had pros on their campaign who were knee deep in Ukraine, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. But it’s Manafort who is being treated as the greatest threat to America since lawn darts and has every book being thrown at him, while the other campaign pros, including a former Obama White House Counsel, get a slap on the wrist.

A settlement agreement struck between Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and the Justice Department over the firm’s past work for the Ukrainian government has thrust former firm partner Greg Craig back under the spotlight.

The civil settlement, signed Jan. 15, resolves an inquiry initiated by the Justice Department into whether the firm violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act for work it conducted for Ukraine beginning in 2012. Under the agreement, Skadden has agreed to retroactively register as a foreign agent of the Ukrainian government and will pay the U.S. Treasury over $4.6 million, which covers the money it made working for Ukraine.

That work—involving a report on the 2011 prosecution of a former Ukrainian prime minister, and a public relations campaign tied to the report—has brought controversy for the firm, in part because it is tied to special counsel Robert Mueller III’s prosecution of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Several Skadden partners and associates worked on the report, according to the settlement agreement, but the work was led by a Washington, D.C.-based partner. While the agreement does not directly identify the partner, the person is widely understood to be former Obama White House Counsel Greg Craig, who retired from Skadden in April 2018. The Thursday’s settlement agreement acknowledged the unnamed partner left the firm on April 13, 2018.

A fine. No raids. No guns drawn. 

No endless investigations. No dragging family members into it. No prison.

A fine.

Ditto for Bernie’s guy, Tad Devine, and Tony Podesta.

The next time a National Review type begins talking about the legitimacy of the Mueller investigation, remind him of that.

Republicans go to jail for the sorts of things that Democrats are fined for.