Paul Manafort Agrees To Cooperate With Government, Forfeits Assets Worth Enough To Cover Cost Of Mueller Probe
I feel very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family. “Justice” took a 12 year old tax case, among other things, applied tremendous pressure on him and, unlike Michael Cohen, he refused to “break” - make up stories in order to get a “deal.” Such respect for a brave man!
-- Donald Trump, August 22, 2018
It looks like the President might have to reassess that claim about his one-time campaign chairman, who was convicted last month on eight counts, including five counts of ta
Yeah, so if he cooperates, he probably gets five years in Club Fed. Now if he doesn’t, then he has to bet whatever his life is left on an egoistical asshole to pardon him, which Trump might not do to save his own skin. Can’t blame Manafort for not trusting the Trump
Wow!
Yea!
It would be of interest to know whether the agreement is conditioned upon Manafort’s agreement to decline and refuse to accept any presidential pardon on these crimes during the next 10 years. A pardon to be valid must be 1. validly granted and 2. accepted, and the grantee has a right to refuse to accept a pardon. See the unanimous holding of the US Supreme Court in BURDICK v. UNITED STATES (1915) https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3928528117882105076
Manafort probably knows that the Virginia attorney general would love to pursue charges against him for violating Virginia tax laws since they flow down from US taxes paid. They won’t do it if he is spending time or making deals with the special council. But given a pardon they could go after him and put him in a state pen, which is not nearly as cushy as club fed.
He also “knows” that the NYAG poses a greater threat given that NY’s tax evasion statutes pose more serious felony crimes for his tax evasion and other crimes in committed in Manhattan than does VA. Yet, “knowing” the “threat” of state charges is wholly different from knowing that a Federal pardon may not be off the table or is off the table.
Mueller knows that once he has Manafort’s “cooperation testimony,” in the can – which I’m certain he already has – Manafort is nonetheless subject to the Federal laws of perjury should he receive a pardon. Nonetheless, Mueller having an enforceable agreement preventing Manafort from legally accepting a pardon strikes at the heart of Trump’s pardoning power which serves as his ace-in-the-hole with such witnesses and neuters that aspect of his obstructing Mueller’s investigation.
Of course, Mueller and his team are more than capable of having thought through a witness agreeing to waive and not accept a pardon. My interest is in knowing how that decision making ultimately panned out.