Page 6 - Pardoning Manafort News Today

Is we know from all of our reporting that his lawyers, the presidents lawyers have not wanted him to talk about whether or not hes going to pardon manafort. now that we are where we are, where it seems that manaforts case is done, the special counsel is done with him, they want him sentenced, we could be in a different place now where the president feels comfortable talking about it. the other thing is, brooke, is that the idea that the president has never discussed pardoning manafort is just no...

All happening a week after president trump gave his written answers to the special counsel. >> right. and, you know, i know weve been talking about this a lot and ive been calling some legal sources to sort of get my head straight on this, and they do have kind of a loose joint defense agreement, which means -- paul knows this better than i do -- lawyers talk to each other. we understand that. the question that is out there is whether, in fact, what manaforts lawyer is doing is keeping the white...

The pardon power, some people will say, well, he can use that pardon as he sees fit. i dont think that most lawyers would agree with that. i think even the pardon power can be used corruptly and can be used to obstruct justice, and by dangling a pardon in front of somebody to influence their testimony, that could be an obstruction, which would translate into an impeachable offense, an abuse of power and an obstruction of justice. maybe he cant be prosecuted criminally because hes a sitting presi...

It could depend on the facts. it could be witness tampering on his part. what it really is is a violation of the agreement. and the pardon itself if it were to transpire in those circumstances would look like a potential -- a reward for not giving truthful information. thats obstruction. >> it is extraordinary that in the same week that were hearing from the special counsel that manafort repeatedly lied to him and his team, we have the president saying he may pardon him. just big picture thought...

Discussed but i think it was april/may what he was telling you the last time it had been at all discussed. but harry littman, possible pardon? what are you thinking? >> well, we are in a different place, as shimon says, but its no place trump should feel comfortable in. the complication in the last 24 hours with manaforts plea agreement having imploded almost celts the table with a circumstantial case of obstructi obstruction. any pardon now would look like a reward to manafort for an extraordin...

Then issues the pardon. >> maybe mueller doesnt have to issue a report anymore. hes going to do this memo. in this memo he may very well detail a lot of the things that hes been talking to manafort about. this may be a way for him to go around matt whitaker and get information out there that perhaps would have been redabctd in a report. maybe from muellers point of view, maybe it just like let me just push all this information out there and make it politically impossible for trump to pardon mana...

Manafort has breached his plea deal and now the president is saying the pardon is on the table. >> so trump, who never really liked manafort before is now feeling kind of sorry for him and likes him. and, as you know, manaforts attorney has been keeping the white house apprised of whats been going on. and i think the real legal question here, and paul can talk about that better than i can, is that just leaving the notion out there is one thing, but dangling a pardon to paul manafort would be ano...

You? but you cover this stuff, ive practiced law and covered this stuff. this isnt how it works. and for your analysis, i want to play eric swalwell saying, yeah, why do you need help from manafort to get out from under this. that doesnt make sense if youre innocent. take a look. >> its not appropriate. manafort was a cooperator. it sounds like hes breached his agreement with the government. its not the way innocent people conduct themselves. the president was not colluding with russia, why is h...

Now, remember, during watergate, richard nixon could have tried pardoning all those burglars early on to shut them up just like trump could have tried pardoning manafort, flynn, or gates, say, two years ago. for all the bluster, trump has not done that yet for the same reasons nixon didnt do it even as things got worse -- because pardoning the guilty people in a conspiracy in the middle of an open probe does make you look like youre part of the conspiracy. and trump continues to insist hes not p...

From manafort. >> i recently spoke to one person in the presidents orbit who said he didnt have direct knowledge of the presidents thinking but said if the president were to pardon manafort, its likely it would come after any 2020 election. the political consequences, of course, pardoning manafort in the lead up to his re-election would be tet tonic. however waiting until after that date passes would else the political cost on trump himself. >> meanwhile, democrats are like we have thoughts if y...