now, now that manafort is facing seven years in federal prison after, among other things, repeatedly lying to prosecutors about his contacts with russian intelligence. and you have heard a lot of discussion in the news and legal circles recently about the prospects of a manafort pardon. trump was asked about it today by reporters a the white house soon after manafort received his sentence. all of that discussion, yes, it is of interest in terms of manafort's personal fate, but it is also about the fate of the whole russia investigation. it is about the prospects for the entire investigation. it's about the whole kit and caboodle. and the crucial question of whether the president can use his powers as president to wire the russia investigation to explode by using his pardon power to protect people who agree to lie about it in order to protect him and in order to prevent the truth from coming out. and that is why new york prosecutors today, not federal