By: Lisa M. Hayes – Confluence Daily is your daily news source for women in the know.
In a court with the nickname “rocket docket” run by a particularly testy and eccentric judge, the most history-making trial to date is coming to a close today and jury deliberations will start tomorrow.
Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s campaign manager is on trial for more felony counts than I care to list. For days the court entertained witness after witness, the most notable of which was Rick Gates, Manafort’s former “right-hand man”. You know, the guy with all the dirt. However, many of the witnesses were experts that helped the jury decipher thousands of pages of records and documents.
Although it wasn’t supposed to, this trial took a hard turn into Manafort’s dealings in Trump’s 2018 campaign when he was in charge. Those dealings may have included monetary bribes for jobs in the administration. It was revealed in the last day of the trial that Trump’s own son-in-law, Kushner was probably in on those backroom deals exposing him to serious criminal liability. Mueller wasn’t in the courtroom. This wasn’t even his trial. However, he played this courtroom theater like a master and it smells like rotting Trump flesh even though the President is not on trial.
Most legal experts believe there are enough charges on the table and the evidence was so remarkably clear cut that while he might not be convicted of all of it, he will be convicted of enough to put him away for the rest of his life. And yet, Paul Manafort doesn’t seem particularly shaken. Which is why most everyone thought the defense surely had some pretty solid evidence or witnesses to give Manafort at least a little confidence that he might not rot in jail.
And the defense did exactly the opposite. They provided no evidence to dispute the prosecution’s narrative. They called no witnesses to speak on behalf of Paul Manafort. When the prosecution rested their case, Paul Manafort’s defense team did nothing and then rested.
Many have speculated that the defense felt they’d done a good enough job during cross-examination of the prosecution’s witnesses to make them seem not credible. Other’s have speculated that just didn’t have anyone or anything to pitch to the jury that outweighed the risk that federal prosecutors would tear them apart on cross-examination.
However, if you’re wondering why Manafort’s defense team just sat there and took a proverbial knee when it was their turn you’ve got to ask yourself one central question.
Why are we even here?
Why did Paul Manafort decide to put his neck in the gallows when almost everyone around him cut deals with the special prosecutor?
Why would a man who’s so clearly fucking guilty sign up to go to jail when he didn’t have to?
Because even though Paul Manafort is so clearly guilty he will not do hard prison time and we all know it.
Trump will pardon him and by doing so he will set a precedent that if you’re willing to stand in the fire publicly at trial, Trump will put that fire out before you’re completely toasted.
Donald Trump has used pardon power like no other president before him. He uses it for one thing and one thing only – and that one thing is not justice or mercy. Trump uses pardon power to whip up his base. He uses pardon power as a political weapon and a PR platform to shield himself and spread his propaganda.
Trump will pardon Paul Manafort. Everyone thought he might, but when Manafort’s defense rested their case without presenting one single argument, the writing was on the wall and the weight of that is heavier than we can even understand.
When this case is over, Paul Manafort as a date with another court on a completely different set of charges. This was only the first trial. However, if Trump pardons him now, it’s worth asking if it’s even worth it to pursue the next trial with the outcome already assured. If I were Trump I’d be asking myself if I could afford another trial that might include testimony that implicates myself or my family. If survival is the name of the game, Donald Trump doesn’t have very many choices to make.
He may not do it next week, but Donald Trump will pardon Paul Manafort and Manafort knows it.
That is why we’re here.
That is why Paul Manafort didn’t take a plea.
That is why he didn’t put up a defense.
When Donald Trump pardons Paul Manafort, make no mistake, that will be obstruction of justice. It sends a message to anyone who might turn on him that the path of least resistance is to wait for your pardon. While the special counsel’s case is probably largely already made, there will be a path of devastation in the pursuit of justice moving forward because the special counsel’s investigation is more likely to spin off into dozens of trials in courts around the country than the one big finale we’re all hoping for. All of those cases will be impacted by the misuse of the president’s pardon power.
Buckle up. It’s about to get very bumpy.
More by Lisa:
Understanding Antifa: The Unnerving, the Destructive, and the Admirable
Lisa M. Hayes, Senior Editor of Confluence Daily.
Confluence Daily is the one place where everything comes together. The one-stop for daily news for women.
