Trump On Manafort Pardon: ‘Why Would I Take It Off The Table?’

US President Donald Trump speaks to the press after talking to members of the military via teleconference from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2018. - Trump used a Than... US President Donald Trump speaks to the press after talking to members of the military via teleconference from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2018. - Trump used a Thanksgiving talk Thursday with US troops overseas to criticize US judges and tout his efforts to keep migrants from crossing the US border. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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President Donald Trump on Wednesday refused to promise that he wouldn’t use a presidential pardon on his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

“It was never discussed, but I wouldn’t take it off the table,” he told the New York Post in an interview. “Why would I take it off the table?”

Trump then bemoaned the fates of Manafort, Roger Stone and conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi, all three of whom have recently been in the special counsel’s crosshairs.

“You know this flipping stuff is terrible. You flip and you lie and you get – the prosecutors will tell you 99 percent of the time they can get people to flip. It’s rare that they can’t,” Trump said. “But I had three people: Manafort, Corsi – I don’t know Corsi, but he refuses to say what they demanded. Manafort, Corsi and Roger Stone.”

“It’s actually very brave,” he continued, referring to the three men. “And I’m telling you, this is McCarthyism. We are in the McCarthy era. This is no better than McCarthy.”

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Notable Replies

  1. He’s trolling.

  2. Eff you Trump, you jackass, with a big E.

  3. “You know this flipping stuff is terrible. You flip and you lie and you get – the prosecutors will tell you 99 percent of the time they can get people to flip. It’s rare that they can’t,” Trump said.

    So the DoJ and local police should no longer solicit the names of higher operatives in various criminal activities by offering inducements to those arrested. Got it.
  4. “You know this flipping stuff is terrible. You flip and you lie and you get – the prosecutors will tell you 99 percent of the time they can get people to flip. It’s rare that they can’t,” Trump said. “But I had three people: Manafort, Corsi – I don’t know Corsi, but he refuses to say what they demanded. Manafort, Corsi and Roger Stone.”

    “It’s actually very brave,” he continued, referring to the three men.

    No so brave if you expect to be pardoned.

  5. Why would I take it off the table?

    Why would I very specifically tell three people, currently under fire from the OSC, in a very public way, that I have their back if they stick to their guns and cover for me?

    Why indeed.

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