8/22/2018

PARDONS/PAUL MANAFORT/ROBERT MUELLER/RUDY GIULIANI/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani have talked about the potential political repercussions of pardoning former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, The New York Times reported Wednesday [8-22-18]. Giuliani told the Times that pardoning Manafort, who on Tuesday was found guilty on eight of 18 financial crimes, was not something the President was considering. However, the paper reported that Giuliani said in an interview that Trump thought Manafort had not been treated well…The trial was the first major test in court for special counsel Robert Mueller’s team. Mueller is leading the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election and whether there was any collusion with Trump’s campaign. However, the initial charges against Manafort were unrelated to the campaign. Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion. Manafort has been in jail since June, and faces additional criminal charges in federal court in Washington. Those charges pertain to alleged failure to register his foreign lobbying as well as an alleged money laundering conspiracy related to his Ukrainian political work.”

Sophie Tatum, “NY Times: Giuliani and Trump discussed potential fallout of a Manafort pardon,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, August 22, 2018 10:44 pm