It may have been ostensibly legitimate to tap Manafort in 2014, if they thought Russians were using his services illegally or if Manafort was not reporting his services appropriately (I leave Constitutional questions about his freedom to associate for a different debate). Where it gets really troubling is that they stopped the tap, and then restarted it around the time he signed on to the Trump campaign. This smacks of political espionage - using the instruments of state against the political opposition. Because of this, I am certain Mueller will come up with some charge against Manafort no matter how specious it may be. They have to cover for the establishment and try to give legitimacy to what appears to be yet another of the many abuses of power people the Obama administration in which have been involved. This issue cannot truly be isolated since it is just one of many allegations of abuse of power.
Another interesting twist is how this feeds into the Russia hysteria. How far in advance did the Democrats plan this Trump+Russia canard? I think it was probably just a happy coincidence for Hillary and the DNC. They knew they had this tap on Manafort, and after the DNC emails were leaked they concocted this Russia hacking story knowing they had this weak investigation to point to. If they won, would they have come down on Trump like a ton of bricks? I guess yes, because he flat campaigned on “crooked Hillary” issue and this would have been payback. They lost and found it a useful distraction and political tool to try to weaken the Trump admin.
A great irony here is how Hillary and the DNC were able to use the instruments of state as a political weapon while accusing Trump of using the instruments of a foreign nation. Both would be technically illegal. The use of wiretaps against political opposition is, imo, a far worse crime against the Republic. Besides the ability to tap the Trump campaign, Hillary had access to endless ream of foreign intelligence thanks to her tenure as Sec of State and connections in the executive branch. But none of that, not even the open collusion with Ukraine and the massive financial contributions she received from Russia and the rest of the world, is even a topic of discussion. The abuse of power in the mere existence of the Clinton Foundation alone should have been disqualifying. Ignoring the issue of financial contributions, the fact that she as the presumptive nominee and next POTUS was using the CF to peddle influence gave her a huge advantage - in money, in media influence, in institutional support and so on. Disgraceful. And I cannot imagine any other candidate at any other time being able to pull that off without reproach. Yet she did, which is very scary in what it implies about corruption in the USA.
The citizenry has been dumbed down by government run education indoctrination and led astray with disinformation and propaganda and mind numbed with entertainment to the extent they can no longer focus on what this means for the survival or our Republic.
We are hanging by a thread, and there is a candle burning beneath it.