DID MANAFORT DOUBLE-CROSS MUELLER, BECAUSE A PARDON WAS AVAILABLE?

… They tried hard to keep Manafort from communicating outside while in prison

It’s hard to believe that Mueller would allow himself to be double-crossed

Trump's campaign chairman, Paul Manafort’s plea deal broke down amid claims by special counsel Robert Mueller III that Manafort violated the agreement by lying to the FBI and prosecutors about multiple subjects.

Of course, the White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told the White House press corps that “she’s was unaware” of any conversations about a pardon for the former Trump campaign chairman. But, lots of things Sanders has said have turned out to be false such as Trump knowledge of the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels and countless Cabinet and senior staff departures.  Therefore, it is entirely possible that such pardon conversations have actually taken place.  Truthfully, we just don’t know.

The collapse of the plea deal immediately prompted a speculation that Manafort has reason to believe he could get a pardon from Trump and that he has continued to withhold critical information from Mueller or he has lied about it.  In a court-filing, Mueller’s prosecutors stated, “The government will file a detailed sentencing submission to the Probation Department and the Court in advance of sentencing that sets forth the nature of the defendant’s crimes and lies.”

What’s amazing is that Manafort is saying that he didn’t lie to Mueller!

Here are important aspects of these latest developments.

First, if the “detailed sentencing submission” is made public, we will all learn somethings about what Mueller knows and what Manafort told him.

This would be a rare glimpse into the substance of the Russia probe before any report from Mueller is presented.  In one respect, this virtually ensures that President Trump won’t be able to bottle up the report since we know some of what’s in it anyway.  But it also would tell other witnesses what Manafort’s story is.

So, we don’t know if a submission would help other witnesses or defendants sync up their stories, or whether it instead might reveal that they’ve already lied.  In any event, Manafort is totally useless as a trial witness, if he really has lied to Mueller multiple times. 

Second, it is unheard of but not impossible, to believe that a pardon promise at this stage could have been communicated without any knowledge of the authorities.  That is even though they continued monitoring Manafort’s conversations and correspondence.  If a pardon promise was communicated through his attorneys, the attorney-client privilege would be voided on the theory that this is all a conspiracy to obstruct justice.

The Manafort trial coverage is possibly missing a very key issue, that of kleptocracy.   And just what is “kleptocracy”:  By definition, it is when the government of those that are in power, they exploit national resources to where the nation’s rule of law is by thieves, and scoundrels.  With Donald Trump, that is a serious possibly.

Third, we’ve heard reports previously that the White House has dangled pardons in front of both Manafort and former national security adviser, Michael Flynn. If that’s what’s happened, or if it continues to happen, the extent of the pardon power, which Trump has characterized as unlimited, will come to the fore.

“If a president sold pardons for money, the president would be guilty of bribery. If a president sold nominations for money, he would be guilty of bribery,” wrote Fordam law professor Jed Shugerman. “So, too, if the president offered pardons in order to corruptly obstruct justice, that would be a felony.” He continued: “Those who say the president is immune for his official acts are essentially saying the president is uniquely above the law, that he should be held to a different standard from other officials who take bribes, buy off witnesses with public goods, or obstruct justice. That view is inconsistent with our democratic and republican notions of law.”

We don’t really know if Manafort blew up his plea deal because of a pardon either offered months ago or more recently.  If he did, however, he may have made a very bad calculation that sets himself up for a life sentence without obtaining a constitutionally sound pardon.

On the other hand, if he was given info that a presidential pardon was on the table, and now that the president has said that a pardon was still on the table, Manafort would not have given up everything and gotten nothing.  A Manafort pardon that came as a double-cross of his agreement with the special prosecutor, that would be bazaar justice for a man who has conned and lied his way throughout his life.

This whole thing is, with the Republicans still controlling the Senate, they would never vote to impeach the president.

We must remember how Richard Nixon’s supporters stuck to Nixon until he was forced to resign.  Nixon did not leave because he didn’t have political support.  He left because all the evidence continually said he would never have been able to continue as president while so many of his aides were continually being found guilty.  This seems very similar to Trump's situation as we are starting to see Trump’s former and current aides pleading guilty.

Once again, it ain’t over till it’s over.

Copyright G.Ater 2018