congress has the freedom to pass this resolution and i have the duty to veto it. paul manafort s attorneys pleaing for a pardon. up with me, a contributing opinion writer for the new york times. williams a political strategist and host of sundays civics on sirius fm. clint watts, a former fbi special agent, now msnbc national security analyst. we start this hour with new zealand and the worst mass shooting in history. a man attacked people at two mosques. it was live streamed on social media. 49 are dead and dozens of men, women and children remain hospitalized in that city. we expect another update from new zealand police later today as the investigation continues.
it was strategic. it s to position himself in a good way for a pardon. they are throwing a wrinkle into that. the state charges, if convicted would be pardon proof. it throws a wrinkle into it. paul manafort has been litigating much of his case from the position of trying to get a pardon from the very beginning. now, he s in a harder situation, trying to face down the state charges. you watched or read the transcriptions on both of the sentencings in virginia and washington, d.c. it was two different paul manaforts with what he said and how he feels. it s paul manafort, right? lest we forget. what to do to come up with the optimal outcome. how do we know that? he s a lobbyist. he worked in ukraine and in the u.s. he knows how the system works. he s going to do whatever gets
michael cohen was angling for this type of reassurance from president trump. he never got it. now i ll be the patriot, with manafort, trump is a fine person, i feel badly what s happened to him. that s a signal. if you play by the rules, the code of silence, there s going to be a pardon. he said it. i don t have to pardon, but i can pardon. i can pardon myself. wait, what? what just happened? we didn t ask that. manafort, obviously, is playing for the pardon. not just manafort, it s anyone in trump s orbit, who comes into contact, mueller or charges. trump is saying, you play by the rules, i have your back. a few of us are waiting for the tony romo moments before they unleash the indictments. it would be nice if there s state charges. that throws a wrinkle to manafort. because the trump organization is emerged in so much corruption
level. the presidential pardon couldn t absolve him from that. he was addressing president trump. ruled no evidence of any collusion. liar! very sad very sad day. washington post puts it, regardless of whether manafort is promised or asked for a pardon, it is clear his legal team would like him to be seen as a good soldier. once again, the president leaving his options open. will you pardon paul manafort? i haven t given it a thought. it s not on my mind. i feel badly for paul manafort. he made the most expansive comments on it. i m not above the law.