(CNN)They once were Donald Trump‘s strutting, sharp-suited alpha male political and legal fixers, living high and playing the game hard, seemingly immune from the consequences of their willingness to walk on the dark side.
One is already in jail, another is headed there and Stone narrowly escaped with his liberty Thursday but was gagged by a judge he had threatened on Instagram.
All three men have been indicted or convicted or have pleaded guilty to crimes and alleged offenses that in most cases are not directly linked to their work for the President.
But had they not eagerly dived into Trump’s shark tank and had he not run for President they would not have drawn the attention of special counsel Robert Mueller and possibly other prosecutors in cases that led to their downfall.
The White House line, whenever one of the President’s men goes down, is that none of it has anything to do with Trump. Technically, that is often true: So far none of the trio has been charged with a conspiracy to collude with Russia, for instance.
Yet all three are under suspicion of allegedly communicating with Russian intelligence assets, contacts or alleged front organizations like WikiLeaks. Washington is on alert to see if any of those episodes will be referenced in Mueller’s final report, which could be delivered to Attorney General Bill Barr as early as next week.
What is clear is that these are men who Trump has been happy to have by his side. While their partnerships were working and before prosecutors swooped, he never seemed troubled by their dubious reputations and bare-knuckle tactics. In fact, it may have recommended them to him.
Stone, a protege of Trump mentor and mob lawyer Roy Cohn, has moved in the President’s world for decades. He is his longest political adviser, after a self-styled career as a dirty trickster fashioned after his hero Richard Nixon.
Cohen, who is expected to lift the lid on some of the President’s life and business secrets in what could be a sensational Capitol Hill hearing next week, made himself indispensable as a man who cleaned up Trump’s messes.
And Manafort traded in the life of a jet-setting international political consultant who rubbed shoulders with oligarchs to turn Trump, the 2016 GOP primary victor, into a nominee who could make a run at the presidency itself, as his campaign chairman.
If their story has a common moral, it is this: Sooner or later, even hard-charging political and legal bruisers who seem to fly unrestrained by the normal rules can eventually fall foul of the law and see lives of notoriety crash to ruin.
Only time, Mueller, various other legal proceedings and a flurry of congressional investigations will tell whether Trump himself will learn the same hard truth or was smart enough to avoid the fate of his tainted operatives.
That was his approach a few weeks ago in his first court appearance in Florida, when he was defiant and reveling in the attention — flashing Nixon’s “V for victory” sign with his hands above his head on the courtroom steps.
But there was no attack, attack, attack on Thursday. That Roger Stone was nowhere to be seen in a Washington courtroom. He was abject and apologetic after he was hauled in to explain his Instagram post.
“I don’t offer any rationalization or excuse…
