CNN legal analyst predicts Manafort will flip on Trump: 'His case is nearly indefensible'

Former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Toobin was surprised that lawyers for President Donald Trump were happy with news that special counsel Robert Mueller has identified the commander in chief as a subject of FBI investigation.

"In federal law enforcement, there are three categories of witnesses," Toobin, a CNN legal analyst, explained to Anderson Cooper.

"There are targets, who are almost certainly going to be charged, going to be indicted," Toobin continued. "There are witnesses, who are just people whose information is of value to the prosecutors."

"And in between the two, there is something called the subject, that is someone who is under investigation but who may or may not be charged," he explained. "Trump is a subject and I don't think that is particularly good news for him."

"It is a big deal to be under criminal investigation by the FBI, particularly if the you are the President of the United States," Toobin concluded. "This has been implicit in what the Mueller investigation has been doing. But this confirmation, that the president is under criminal investigation, that is a profound thing to think about."

Toobin also thinks former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort may be close to flipping and cooperating with the special counsel investigation.

"He is in desperate legal trouble," Toobin observed. "Now that his right hand man, Gates, has pleaded guilty and cooperate against him, I think his case is nearly indefensible."

"And I just think the walls are closing in on Manafort, where he's really in an untenable legal position," Toobin concluded.

Watch: