Thursday, November 29, 2018

Playing the angles for the "P" word

George Parry writes in the American Spectator,
...it’s a really bad idea to betray and spit in the eye of the very people who hold your life in their hands.
That is what he believes Manafort is doing in regard to the Mueller investigation of him.

Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s lead counsel, has confirmed that the briefings by Manafort’s lawyer have happened and stated that they have provided valuable insight as to the special counsel’s intentions. Giuliani reportedly said that Manafort’s lawyer related that prosecutors have “hammered away” at whether the president knew about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting where Russians promised to deliver damaging information on Hillary Clinton. Regarding Mueller, Giuliani stated: “He wants Manafort to incriminate Trump.”

So, is Manafort crazy? In light of Giuliani’s statements and the president’s tweets, Manafort may be crazy like a fox. I’m beginning to think that for him, all life comes down to geometry, like bank shots on a pool table. “If I cut a deal with the prosecutors here and secretly feed Trump enough damaging information about Team Mueller’s antics there, I might be able to provide Trump with enough public relations air cover for a presidential pardon.”

Finally, while Manafort’s lawyer has been secretly briefing the president’s legal team about the special counsel office’s untoward behavior and strategic goals, maybe — just maybe — the “P” word came up in the context of “one hand washes the other”. Stranger things have happened, and I would be amazed if competent counsel hasn’t at least raised that possibility on behalf of Manafort and obtained some inkling of the over and under odds of a pardon being granted.

That’s what you would expect from any lawyer representing Paul Manafort, the man who knows how to work the angles.
Read more here.

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