Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/08/14/manafort-lawyers-rests-without.html
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If you know you are going to be pardoned, why say anything that might accidentally reveal a new fact?
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Looking forward to seeing how this plays out. He wants a pardon, but Trump might be walking straight into an immediate obstruction of justice charge if he tries it. There’s a lot of fuss and bother about “Trump could just pardon his cronies LOL”, but that’s not a Get Out of Jail Free card, just a ticket to getting into it faster.
A cynic might even say that they’re trying to bait Trump into doing exactly this, because investigating a clear OoJ abuse of power will give them the authority to investigate things about Trump that perhaps they couldn’t previously do.
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Shows you the quality of lawyers he hired. They never even heard of billable hours!
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Wow! Maybe they are going to argue for a reduced sentence for cooperation?
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Someone posited that if there is Russian Oligarch involvement or mafia involvement in laundering at play, he may understand they’ll go after his family if he doesn’t take the fall for these charges and try to stop the investigation from going further.
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Well, that de-escalated quickly.
O_O
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I’ve actually wondered about this a bit. Manafort was clearly wound up in some next level bad guy shit. The leaked texts from his family really paint a stunning picture. Then there were some of his interviews there at the end where he looked like a completely broken man. Part of me thinks this guy lost his family, lost his power, lost his money and is now just trying to avoid accidentally drinking some polonium tea.
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Presidential pardon or not, at this point it seems to be a question of what kind of prison (federal or state) he’ll be a resident of, what kind of special protection he’ll get behind bars, and how much his time there will be reduced by co-operating with Mueller. His lawyers seem to understand that and are probably focusing their efforts on cutting a deal.
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We can only hope. I don’t think Trump thinks/acts strategically enough to avoid that trap, he just thinks he can brute force his way through, so it may work.
(Unfortunately brute force can work, too. He’s got a congress full of goons to beat up the smart guy, so he’s probably going to go that route. It’s not a clear outcome.)
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None of which matters unless Congress is willing to impeach.
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There is still a pending investigation on state level charges in NY for Manafort; which can’t be pardoned.
And - I think if he accepts a pardon - he loses any fifth amendment rights on those issues. If he lies or refuses to testify - he’s got new charges.
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Aye;
I keep saying that the “Oh, 45 will pardon any convictions away!” Negative Nancy’s seem to be forgetting about state charges, of which there are many, to go along with each federal case.
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He doesn’t need a criminal lawyer, he needs a criminal lawyer.
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Even Saul wouldn’t fuck with this hot mess.
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So, they’re comfortable that the jury will go their way? Hmmmm
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Then why didn’t he just plead Guilty and avoid all this nonsense?
I’m more inclined to believe they got to one or more of the Jury and have no need to waste time on a “Defense”.
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Donny Two Burgers is warming up the Pardon Pen.
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Yeah, from what I’ve heard, the Mueller team has made it clear that there are plenty of state charges that could immediately be brought should he be pardoned… None of this makes any sense.
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