manafort -- he may look at manafort as a tough guy who's held his self together so far, but on the other hand trump is innately disloyal to everyone around him, even people who have willingly gone to jail for him. >> what's the upside if you're manafort and his team in not apologizing to the court, showing remorse? >> look, i think that was definitely strategic play on their part knowing two things, one, that this judge has a reputation for going very easy on whoite collar criminals. they didn't need to burn that chit and put themselves back behind the 8 ball where trump could interpret it as there's paul selling me out. because manafort knows that the president is vengeful among many other terrible characteristics. so i think you're going to end up with a situation where manafort didn't think he needed to do it with this judge and thought it might have been a risk factor for any potential pardon, which i still think is a long shot for him. >> what do you make of the
he will be back in court arguing that he shouldn't be sent to jail. you saw tonight his lawyers arguing that the judge should not throw the book at him, that this was an honest mistake to not tell the judge about the upcoming book. you also saw them really being concerned. as part of the court filing, they submitted internal e-mails showing how they were trying to gather information about the book. and in those e-mails they were saying we need this information right now and tell the judge otherwise roger can be in jail. >> you have dealt with federal judges in your profession. when i read the tone saying they have been scolded and their phrase that this is much ado, i think a federal judge decides how much ado there is here. what is this judge likely to think of their filing? >> roger stone is really playing with fire here. this is not a line you want to sort of tow up against here. ultimately what is on the other
himself. he can be called before state courts. this guy is facing more jeopardy if he is out than if he is in. i think when paul manafort looks at the two big wedges he is caught between, on the one hand he doesn't want to spend his life in prison. if he is out he owes oleg deripaska money. it is a mixed bag for manafort no matter how he plays it. he may look at manafort as a tough guy who has held himself together so far but only the other hand trump is innately disloyal to everyone around him. >> what is the upside if you are manafort and your team in not apologizing to the court showing remorse? >> look, i think that was definitely strategic play on their part knowing two things,
for that. >> with us this evening to talk about it rick wilson whose views about the president is best expressed by the title of his book everything trump touches dies. rick, always a pleasure to have you. thank you very much for coming on. i noted last week in real time the list of physical ailments that manafort's lawyers made clear that the court hear them out on. i'm wondering if they were setting up the predicate for a humanitarian pardon that this man whose health is falling apart, he has been in protective custody in jail, do you rick wilson consider it an article of faith that manafort gets pardoned? >> i don't actually. i will tell you two reasons. once he is pardoned, he no longer has fifth amendment protection to not incriminate
decision. which therefore implies there is a decision to be made. most presidents would not think of interfering at this point by the use of pardon power in an ongoing base involving somebody so close to him. they would see that as being explosive politically at the very least. your pardon power is unchallenged in the constitutional sense. but a lot of critics would say if you use the pardon power for the purpose of impeding an investigation that reflects on you that could be something that a congress could look at if they chose to take up impeachment. of course nancy pelosi today seeming to throw cold water on that. we don't know where he is going with that. obviously, paul manafort, that is really going to be his best hope left to him after junk jackson issues her ruling this week. >> chris, a brief preview from you of what we could learn in the gates and flynn court
not followed. >> speaking of paul manafort, give us a preview of what might happen to him in court i guess that's wednesday. >> yeah. so this is round two of the sentencing for manafort. and i think that this is a round that he should be particularly worried about. so as it has been reported, he got a fairly lenient sentence from the judge in the eastern district of virginia, but judge jackson has really been privy to a lot of paul manafort's not only his crimes but what he did after he was arrested. she put him in jail for attempting to tamper with witnesses. she was also the one that had to hear all of the details about how he violated his cooperation agreement. and she was the one that ultimately made the decision that yes in fact he had lied to the special counsel's office and yes in fact he should not get the benefit of the cooperation agreement. she has seen all the dirty laundry. and i can't imagine she's going to be feeling very merciful. >> of the two federal judges, this is the wrong word, but she is the one with more reason to
earlier today white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders said the president will decide when he's ready whether or not to pardon manafort for his crimes. meanwhile, former cia director john brennan said today there is no doubt in his mind that trump will pardon manafort. >> personally, i don't have any doubt that mr. trump is going to pardon paul manafort at some point. the question is when. but then if he's also convicted of state charges donald trump is not going to be able to pardon him for that. >> with us this evening to talk about it, rick wilson, a veteran republican strategist whose views about the president are best expressed by the title of his book, "everything trump touches dies." recently released with new material in paperback including an even higher death toll. rick, always a pleasure to have you. thank you very much for coming on. i noted last week in real time the list of physical ailments that manafort's lawyers made clear that the court hear them out on.
purpose of impeding an investigation that reflects on you, that could be something that congress could look at if they chose to take up impeachment. nancy pelosi seeming to throw cold water on that. we don't know where he is going with that. obviously, paul manafort, that is going to be his best hope left to him after judge jackson issues her ruling this week. >> chris, a brief preview from you of what we could learn in the gates and flynn court matters later this week. >> so i would say that the rick gates status update could be the most interesting one. we might be able to learn more about his cooperation with prosecutors. there is a whole window he has into president trump's inauguruation committee which is also under investigation by prosecutors in new york. it is possibly he is cooperating with that investigation. this is one question that could be answered at least somewhat