So now we know. After a weekend of intense speculation, Paul Manafort and his business associate Rick Gates walked into the FBI field office in Washington DC to give themselves up and address a slew of federal charges – the first to be brought by the investigation into Russian meddling into last year’s election and any possible collusion with the Trump campaign.

It turns a nebulous cloud of suspicion, a damaging air of supposition, into the forensic black and white of a 31-page indictment.

The former Trump campaign chairman and his associate are accused of generating tens of millions of dollars in income from Ukrainian political parties allied to Moscow, hiding payments from US authorities and laundering some $18m.

Trump supporters are already pushing back. These are financial allegations dating to before he joined the campaign in the spring of 2016, runs their argument. None of the charges relate to Mr Manafort’s work with Mr Trump or mention any aspect of Russia attempts to sway the election.

“Sorry but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign,” tweeted the President himself. “But why aren’t Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?”

Nice try. None of that matters.