Reuters reports: U.S. investigators examining money laundering accusations against President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort hope to push him to cooperate with their probe into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia, two sources with direct knowledge of the investigation said.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team is examining Manafort’s financial and real estate records in New York as well as his involvement in Ukrainian politics, the officials said.
Between 2006 and 2013, Manafort bought three New York properties, including one in Trump Tower in Manhattan. He paid for them in full and later took out mortgages against them. A former senior U.S. law enforcement official said that tactic is often used as a means to hide the origin of funds gained illegally. Reuters has no independent evidence that Manafort did this.
The sources also did not say whether Mueller has uncovered any evidence to charge Manafort with money laundering, but they said doing so is seen by investigators as critical in getting his full cooperation in their investigation. [Continue reading…]
If he knows he has a pardon waiting for him, why would he flip?
Because he knows that even though Trump has the power to pardon, none of those individuals that would hope to be beneficiaries of such pardons can be assured that Trump will follow through — especially if he ends up facing impeachment or getting indicted. Trump’s highest loyalty is to himself.
The fact that the White House’s interest in the subject of pardons has been leaked, would seem to indicate that they are really afraid of people like Manafort talking.
If Manafort could be confident of getting pardoned it would be because he had discreetly been provided such an assurance. Instead, he’s getting his stay-out-of-jail card in the form of Trump tweets. They might have been dubbed presidential statements, but we all know they’re just tweets.