© Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Paul Manafort
U.S. President Donald Trump says he will not rule out pardoning his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who this week
became the renewed target of a special investigation into ties between Russia and his 2016 campaign.
Trump told the
New York Post in an interview published on November 28 that
he had not "discussed" pardoning Manafort, "but I wouldn't take it off the table. Why would I take it off the table?"
Manafort was convicted of bank and tax fraud this summer, and in September he pleaded guilty to money laundering and conspiracy charges leveled by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading an investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Manafort, 69, faces years -- even decades -- in jail, particularly since
a cooperation agreement he signed with prosecutors fell apart this week. Manafort had been cooperating with Mueller since September in hopes of a lighter sentence. But Mueller informed a U.S. court on November 26 that
Manafort had violated the cooperation deal by lying repeatedly to prosecutors.
Manafort denied lying or breaching the agreement, but he agreed to face immediate sentencing for his crimes. Without a pardon, former prosecutors say he could spend the rest of his life in jail.
Comment: As we've been pointing our for years now, illicit trafficking in organs for transplant is a world-wide problem. Destitute children are the easiest target. The do-gooders facilitating the migrant movements have no idea what evil they're facilitating.