manafort's mysterious financial ties to dmytri firtash and oleg deripaska, federal prosecutors were arguing in court about why it was important to get their hands on firtash, why firtash's case shouldn't be dismissed, why they needed to have him extradited to the united states, why he needed to go on trial in this country. and their claims to the court in the summer of 2017 including this startling assertion from justice department prosecutors. "dmytri firtash has been identified by u.s. law enforcement as an upper echelon associate of russian organized crime. his prosecucessecution will dis this organized crime group and prevent it from taking further criminal acts within the united states. this prosecution, therefore, seems to protect this country, its commerce and its citizens from the corrupting influence and withering effects of international organized crime." so this is like a remarkable thing in american politics, right? once again, like, you're alive now. you'll always be able to tell this story. i mean, here is the campaign