Developing: Mueller Moves to Confiscate Key Presidential Power From Trump
V. Saxena
Special counsel Robert Mueller has begun working with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on his investigation into President Donald Trump’s former presidential campaign manager, Paul Manafort, setting up the possibility that he may attempt to pursue charges against the political consultant on the state level.
“The two teams have shared evidence and talked frequently in recent weeks about a potential case,” Politico reported, citing sources familiar with their proceedings. “(B)oth Mueller’s and Schneiderman’s teams have collected evidence on financial crimes, including potential money laundering.”
Were Schneiderman, a staunch anti-Trump critic, to charge Manafort with a crime, the president would be prevented from intervening with a pardon, as presidential pardons only apply on the federal level.
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“(T)the President’s authority to grant clemency is limited to federal offenses and offenses prosecuted by the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia in the name of the United States in the D.C. Superior Court,” the Justice Department notes. “An offense that violates a state law is not an offense against the United States.”
Dovetailing back to potential charges against Manafort, they could in turn provide Mueller with the leverage needed to compel Trump’s former campaign manager to turn on the president and incriminate him in the larger investigation into Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential election (not to imply that the president is remotely guilty of anything).
As noted by one of Politico’ sources, however, “Nothing is imminent.” Likewise, Manafort has thus far repeatedly made it clear that he never committed a crime — and this despite reportedly facing intimidation from Mueller’s team.
http://conservativetribune.com/mueller-moves-to-confiscate/