Tag

#Manafort

5 incidents

Grade 2 of 5: Major Abuse of Power

First-Term Pardons: Rewarding Allies Who Protected Trump from Prosecution

Trump's end-of-term pardons formed a pattern: the beneficiaries were overwhelmingly personal associates, political allies, or people whose silence or loyalty had protected Trump from prosecutorial pressure. Manafort and Stone had both been convicted in Mueller's investigation. Flynn had pleaded guilty twice to lying to the FBI. Bannon was under indictment for fraud. The pardons rewarded loyalty and silence — establishing that cooperation with investigators would not be protected, while non-cooperation would be.

Grade 2 of 5: Major Abuse of Power

Presidential Pardons: Political Allies and Corrupt Officials Pardoned

Trump granted clemency 237 times in his first term (144 pardons and 94 commutations), including 143 grants on his last full day in office. Analysts documented that a disproportionate share of Trump's pardons went to political allies, relatives of political allies, or individuals whose cases were connected to Trump's political interests. The pardons of Manafort, Stone, Flynn, and Bannon were specifically notable because each had been convicted or charged in connection with conduct related to Trump's political activities, and each received executive clemency. The final day pardons also included Steve Bannon, who was awaiting trial.

Grade 2 of 5: Major Abuse of Power

Paul Manafort: Bank and Tax Fraud Convictions, Conspiracy and Witness-Tampering Plea — Pardoned

Prosecutors alleged Manafort was paid more than $60 million between 2010 and 2014 by Ukrainian sponsors for political work for Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian Ukrainian president later forced from office and who fled to Russia. Manafort hid the income in offshore accounts and spent lavishly while lying on tax returns and bank loan applications. Mueller's investigation documented that Manafort had also shared internal Trump campaign polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, whom the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report (Volume 5, August 2020) characterized as a 'Russian intelligence officer', calling Manafort's activities a 'grave counterintelligence threat'.

Grade 2 of 5: Major Abuse of Power

Mueller Investigation Obstruction: Witness Tampering, McGahn, Flynn Pardon Signal

The Mueller Report documented a sustained pattern of obstruction. Trump ordered McGahn to fire Mueller in June 2017; McGahn refused and prepared to resign. Trump later ordered McGahn to publicly deny having received this order; McGahn refused. Trump publicly praised associates who did not cooperate and attacked those who did. The Mueller Report examined whether Trump's public and private statements about Manafort were intended to signal that a pardon was possible and so discourage cooperation. Mueller concluded that Congress, not the Special Counsel, was the appropriate institution to address obstruction given OLC policy against indicting a sitting president.

Grade 1 of 5: Significant Democratic Concern

2016 Russian Election Interference: Mueller Findings and Senate Intelligence Committee

The Senate Intelligence Committee's August 2020 bipartisan report documented that Paul Manafort shared confidential Trump campaign polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Ukrainian political consultant the committee assessed had ties to Russian intelligence. The report characterized this as 'a grave counterintelligence threat.' The report also documented extensive contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russian nationals. Mueller found the hacking and dumping of Democratic emails benefited the Trump campaign and that the campaign was aware of, and made use of, the releases — but did not find sufficient evidence of criminal conspiracy between the campaign and the Russian government.