Paul Manafort Shows Signs Of Cracking As He Tried To Cut A Plea Deal With Mueller

Last updated on September 26th, 2018 at 12:49 pm

Before talks broke down, Paul Manafort was trying to cut a plea deal with Robert Mueller, in a sign that the rumblings about a pardon coming from the White House weren’t good enough for Trump‘s former campaign chairman.

The Wall Street Journal reported:
Paul Manafort’s defense team held talks with prosecutors to resolve a second set of charges against the former Trump campaign chairman before he was convicted last week, but they didn’t reach a deal, and the two sides are now moving closer to a second trial next month, according to people familiar with the matter.

….

Paul Manafort’s defense team held talks with prosecutors to resolve a second set of charges against the former Trump campaign chairman before he was convicted last week, but they didn’t reach a deal, and the two sides are now moving closer to a second trial next month, according to people familiar with the matter.

A plea deal is not the same as a cooperation agreement, and one suspects that the issues that might have held up a potential deal involved the level of cooperation that Mueller wanted from Manafort on elements of the Russia investigation.

Paul Manafort is looking at 80 years in jail. Donald Trump could be impeached for abusing his presidential pardon power if he pardons Manafort, so the idea that Trump is going to make all of his former campaign chairman’s problems go away has always been more than a little dicey.

Trump looks out for only Trump, so if he doesn’t think that he can get away with pardoning Manafort, a pardon is not coming.

Paul Manafort might be cracking, and if he decides to cooperate, it could mean the damn fully breaking on the Russia scandal and Donald Trump being swept out of the White House.

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Jason Easley

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.

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