'Basically what we're seeing here is a confession': Ex-Mueller prosecutor
Special counsel Robert Mueller's lead prosecutor, Andrew Weissmann, has spent the evening on several news shows explaining the alarming pardons that President Donald Trump has delivered to those that defended his honor in the Russia scandal investigation.
Speaking to MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, Weissmann explained that pardoning Paul Manafort and Roger Stone on Wednesday after he pardoned campaign aide George Papadopoulos and attorney Alex van der Zwaan on Tuesday, was part of the cover-up.
"I think what you're seeing, whether it's the pardon of Paul Manafort or many others that we saw today and yesterday, this is what you get if you give the pardon power to a mob boss," Weissmann said. "You see exactly what's going on now, and we all know as we're sitting here talking that the next shoe to drop is going to be pardons for his family and for himself. So, the one thing I'd like your viewers to know, with respect to Paul Manafort, is at least he did do two years in jail because the judge did remand him."
He explained that Manafort attempted to tamper with witnesses while he was out of prison, so the judge threw him in prison for two years during the crime.
When it comes to what the pardons do to Manafort and Trump allies Roger Stone, is it takes away their ability to claim their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. If there's a blanket pardon, the man can't incriminate themselves because they've been pardoned.
"This is the kind of thing when I hear this news, I put on my sort of former Brooklyn prosecutor hat of, okay, what can we do?" Weissman explained. "And there are actually two things that the next attorney general can do with respect to the president because the president has a very, very broad power to pardon. But he cannot pardon in exchange for something. In other words, there cannot be a bribe or a quid pro quo."
When talking about the $1 billion healthcare fraud case of 52-year-old nursing home owner Philip Esformes, Weissmann explained that the next attorney general can investigate if there was a bribe or promise for financial gain.
"Second, the president may not be able to pardon himself," Weissmann told Maddow. "I'm sure he's going to try to do it, but, you know, the president faces criminal exposure for obstruction of the Mueller investigation, and what we're seeing is, in the last few days, is basically a confession. You know, this is such strong evidence of obstruction. He's carrying out the dangled pardons that you referred to, he is now carrying out in real-time."
He went on to explain that a federal prosecutor can then use that inability to claim Fifth Amendment protections and command him to testify against Trump. It would obviously happen after Jan. 20, and it would be something Trump couldn't interfere with.
"You can ask them questions about, what were your communications with the White House?" he suggested. "Why did you lie for the president? A whole series of questions."
He noted that Trump can't pardon himself out of the obstruction of criminal liability that he faces federally. So that, to me, is something where he may get hoisted on his own petard if you have an aggressive new attorney general in place in the Biden administration."
Buzz Feed reporter Jason Leopold also posted the text of the conversations between Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. In one statement, Manafort told Gates "sit tight" because "we'll be taken care of." It's clear he was correct.
See the video of Weissmann below:
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