Paul Manafort slam dunks Donald Trump

| 6:35 pm EDT October 18, 2018
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Back when Paul Manafort was pleading guilty and cutting a cooperation deal, there was an awful lot of talk about whether Donald Trump might try to pardon him. Palmer Report explained at the time that this became an irrelevant conversation the minute the deal was finalized, because these deals require an immediate proffer session in which the participant completely spills his guts. Now it turns out Manafort is the gift that keeps on giving.

Donald Trump had a window of opportunity to try to silence Paul Manafort, back when Manafort was still fighting the mountain of felony charges against him at trial. But either Trump decided that taking the risk of trying to pardon him wasn’t worth it (unpardonable state level charges were going to get him to talk anyway), or Trump didn’t understand how plea deals work. Either way, Trump passed up the opportunity.

Now we’re getting word from CNN that Paul Manafort has visited Robert Mueller’s office at least nine times since he cut his plea deal. This means that after Manafort laid out everything he knew in the initial proffer session, Mueller decided Manafort had so much good stuff to offer, he keeps bringing him back for more. And let’s be clear here: this is (mainly) about Donald Trump.

Yes, Paul Manafort is a career criminal with decades of first-hand dirt on everyone from Republican politicians to Russian spies. But Robert Mueller has one overriding goal here, and that’s to hold Donald Trump accountable for his crimes. Manafort’s deal specifically states that he has to give up everything on everyone, and that includes Trump. If Manafort were holding back on what he knows about Trump, the deal would be off by now. In other words, after nine meetings in a month, it’s a pretty obvious conclusion that Manafort has slam dunked Donald Trump.