Former Watergate prosecutor pours cold water on Trump hint he may pardon Flynn: 'He's in for a big surprise'

Appearing on MSNBC's AM Joy, a former Watergate prosecutor scoffed at President Donald Trump's hint that he might issue a pardon to former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, saying the president is on for a "big surprise" if he thinks that will solve his problems.

Speaking with host Joy Reid, attorney Nick Akerman was asked about Trump's comment Friday afternoon when the president told reporters, "I don't want to talk about pardons for Michael Flynn yet. We'll see what happens, let's see."

"What would be the practical legal consequences if Donald Trump were to pardon Michael Flynn" Reid asked Akerman.

"The practical consequences are that he wouldn't be charged with a crime, but he's already spilled his guts. He's already told Mueller everything he knows," Akerman replied. "In addition to that, his cooperation agreement requires him to also speak to local and state officials. So I guarantee you that Mueller has already had Flynn speaking to the attorney general of the state of New York's people, who are doing this jointly with him. So that if somehow Mueller's team was disbanded, and that group had to go, state attorney generals could simply step in here and use state crimes as opposed to federal crimes."

Asked about the FBI investigation, Akerman said it was not going to be easy to stop Mueller at this point in the game.

"The central crime here relates to the fact that a crime was committed when they [the Russians] hacked the Democratic National Committee for those emails," he explained. "The only question that remains is, who else was involved, was the Trump campaign part of the conspiracy to get those emails out to throw the election to Donald Trump."

"There are good laws in New York state that cover the exact same crimes," he concluded. "So if the president somehow thinks he's going to derail this investigation by getting rid of Mueller, he's in for a big surprise."

Watch the video below via MSNBC: