Trump's 'treasonous' pardon of Manafort was a gift to Russia: ex-RNC official

Writing in The Bulwark this Wednesday, former RNC official Tim Miller claims that President Trump's pardon of Paul Manafort is the final nail in the coffin of the notion that he planned to "drain the swamp."

According to Miller, the Manafort pardon will go down in history "as among the most corrupt and self-serving actions taken by a chief executive."

"To add injury to insult, it was an action taken while simultaneously engaging in a childish, high-stakes game of chicken with Congress that may result in the government shutting down—potentially denying COVID relief for millions of Americans during the holidays," he writes.

Miller writes that despite what some of his supporters might say, Trump's pardon of Manafort is not business as usual. "It is unconscionable and enraging and perverse and abnormal and anti-American."

Miller, who is the is former spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, cites an ex-Russian spy and arms dealer who said Manafort "owed us a lot of money . . . and he was offering ways to pay it back." But as Miller points out, the Russians weren't the only people Manafort was in debt to.

"When he joined the Trump campaign he was nearly broke, having racked up bills in the millions as he lived a life of luxury with absurd rugs and ugly but expensive suits," Miller writes, adding that during the 2015 campaign when Russia was working to undermine the upcoming election, Manafort "providing private campaign briefings and access to allies of the perpetrators, in order to help pay off his debts."

"He was the definition of a compromised asset," says Miller.

Read the full op-ed over at The Bulwark.