Trump biographer: 'Manafort's money trail' will lead Mueller to Kushner and eventually Trump

Special counsel Robert Mueller will ultimately take down President Donald Trump by following the money trail, the author of TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald told MSNBC host Joy Reid.

"It begins with Paul Manafort, he's the weak antelope in the back of the pack, they take him down," Trump biographer Tim O'Brien explained.

"They move into people like Michael Cohen, possibly into Felix Sater," O'Brien continued.

"They keep going up the food chain ultimately to Jared Kushner -- who is vulnerable in all of this because of his own real estate transactions -- and then to the president," O'Brien concluded. "The money trail will be crucial here."

Earlier in the segment, O'Brien explained, "with Trump, it's always about him ultimately and when he thinks about his own goals, I think those are always financial goals."

Trump's questionable associations may help Mueller establish the money trail.

"I think the common thread you see in the recent Trump forays into Russia winds around Felix Sater -- who is sort of the Forrest Gump of Trump's ties to Moscow," O'Brien suggested. "He keeps reappearing. he's ... a career criminal with organized crime ties -- the president knew this," O'Brien explained. "He's known for the better part of 15 years that Sater has had questionable ties."

"At the end of the day, if there's money on the table, Trump will do a deal," O'Brien reminded. "I think the dangerous thing for him in all of this is it establishes quid pro quos around these transactions that get to this issue of bribery, treason, high crimes and misdemeanors, the issues that Mueller will be weighing that ultimately could go to the Congress for impeachment."

Watch Tim O'Brien on AM Joy: