Trump’s former lawyer John Dowd floated the idea of pardons for Flynn and Manafort to get them to stop talking to Mueller and derail the Russia investigation.
The New York Times reported, “A lawyer for President Trump broached the idea of Mr. Trump pardoning two of his former top advisers, Michael T. Flynn and Paul Manafort, with their lawyers last year, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions. The discussions came as the special counsel was building cases against both men, and they raise questions about whether the lawyer, John Dowd, was offering pardons to influence their decisions about whether to plead guilty and cooperate in the investigation.”
It is unfathomable that John Dowd was acting on his own. It looks like Trump was trying to stop Flynn and Manafort from talking to Mueller by at least putting the potential of a pardon out there to shut them up. Legal experts are divided as to whether or not such an offer raises to the level of obstruction of justice, but the Trump legal team’s intent was obvious. They were trying to stop Robert Mueller from getting information and cooperation from Mike Flynn and Paul Manafort.
The pardon discussions happened last summer, so Donald Trump has known that he is sinking fast for almost a year. An innocent man would not be floating pardons and worrying about what key members of his presidential campaign might tell the special counsel. An innocent person would welcome the investigation as an opportunity to clear his name.
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Donald Trump legal team did not act like they are representing an innocent man.
Trump is trying to take witnesses off of the table for a reason. What do Flynn and Manafort know that Trump is so afraid of?
The president is running out of options. Flynn is cooperating, and Manafort is looking at spending the rest of his life in prison. Trump is doing everything imaginable to obstruct the Russia investigation, but with each passing day, Robert Mueller gets closer to the Oval Office.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
