WASHINGTON | President Donald Trump said Wednesday that a pardon for Paul Manafort is “not off the table” — a remark that drew swift rebuke from critics who fear the president will exert his executive power to protect friends and supporters caught up in the Russia probe.
The president’s comments to the New York Post came after special counsel Robert Mueller said Manafort had breached his plea deal by repeatedly lying to investigators. The former Trump campaign chairman denies that he lied.
Trump’s comments are the most recent example of his disdain for the Russia investigation, which has followed him for two years and ensnared members of his inner circle. In recent weeks, the president, armed with inside information provided to his lawyers by Manafort’s legal team, has sharpened his attacks, seizing on what he claims are dirty tactics employed by the special counsel and accusing investigators of pressuring witnesses to lie.
Trump blasted the Russia probe as a return to the McCarthyism of the 1950s.
“We are in the McCarthy era. This is no better than McCarthy,” Trump told the newspaper.
When asked about a pardon for Manafort, Trump told the newspaper: “It was never discussed, but I wouldn’t take it off the table. Why would I take it off the table?”
Trump only has the power to pardon for federal charges. A pardon would not shield Manafort from prosecution for state charges, though he is not currently facing any.
On Wednesday, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee said that if Trump pardons Manafort, it would be a “blatant and unacceptable abuse of power.”
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said in a tweet that the president’s pardon power is not a “personal tool” that Trump can use to protect “himself and his friends.”
Meanwhile, Manafort’s lawyers have been briefing Trump’s attorneys in recent months on what their client has told investigators, an unusual arrangement for a government cooperator and one that raises the prospect that Manafort is pursuing a pardon.
Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni declined to comment.
In the Post interview, Trump also praised two other supporters who are caught up in the Russia probe — conservative author and conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi and longtime Trump associate Roger Stone. He said they were “very brave” for resisting Mueller’s investigation.
Both men have been heavily critical of the investigation, and Corsi this week said he rejected a plea offer from Mueller’s team. Draft plea documents show Mueller accusing Corsi of lying to investigators — an allegation he denies — about emails he exchanged with Stone regarding WikiLeaks.
