'Last chapter in The Godfather': Watergate prosecutor tears into Trump's 'continuing coverup' of his associates' Russia misdeeds

On CNN Wednesday, former Watergate assistant special prosecutor Nick Akerman tore into outgoing President Donald Trump for his pardon of ex-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn — and warned that a larger coverup is looming.

"I think you have to look at the big picture here," said Akerman. "The big picture is that this is part of the continuing coverup of Donald Trump's efforts to conceal what happened between his campaign in 2016 with the Russian government. It started with Jim Comey, his firing because he refused to basically give an oath of loyalty to Donald Trump. It continued when Robert Mueller was appointed, the continuing threats of firing Mueller and his staff. It continued with Roger Stone, who was — his sentence was commuted."

"Other than Donald Trump, there were three key people that dealt with Russia during the campaign and were knowledgeable about the campaign's situation with the Russian government," added Akerman. "That was General Flynn, it was Roger Stone, and it was Paul Manafort. Roger Stone's sentence for 40 months has been commuted. Paul Manafort somehow is now serving his sentence at home, as opposed to in a federal prison. I guarantee you he's next on deck."

"What we're watching now is essentially the last chapter in 'The Godfather' where the mob boss goes out and makes sure he's battened down the hatches, and everybody is on board," concluded Akerman. "He's making sure that all of these people are going to be loyal to him. They're not going to rat him out and not reveal what occurred between the campaign and the Russian government. That's what's going on here. That's what this is part of. It's part of a much bigger scheme that's been going on since 2016."

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