Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Rudy Giuliani said Paul Manafort’s cooperation with the Mueller probe won’t necessarily hurt his chances of a Trump pardon.
Giuliani says cooperation with Mueller won’t hurt
WASHINGTON — He’s standing by his man.
President Donald Trump has not completely ruled out the possibility of pardoning his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort — even though he is now cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller, Rudy Giuliani said.
“He’s not disqualified from it,” Giuliani, Trump’s top lawyer in the Russia investigation, told the New York Daily News on Friday hours after Manafort entered the cooperation agreement with Mueller. “I don’t have any reason to believe it’s happening now, but I also don’t have any reason to preclude it in the future.”
Giuliani said he ultimately wouldn’t play a role in pardoning Manafort, noting such an undertaking would be handled by the White House counsel and the president himself.
But Giuliani stressed Manafort’s cooperation with Mueller doesn’t necessarily hurt his pardon chances.
“I don’t think the president is concerned about anyone flipping as long as they tell the truth, and certainly Paul would do that,” Giuliani said. “The president never did anything wrong with him.”
A spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment.
Manafort, 69, pleaded guilty in a federal court in Washington, D.C., on Friday morning to conspiracy against the U.S. and conspiracy to obstruct justice. As part of his plea, the former Trump campaign chief will “fully and truthfully” cooperate in Mueller’s investigation and any other inquiries requested by the government.