Lied about contacts with kilminik. And saying quote this is a problematic attempt to shield his russian conspirator from liability and gives rise to legitimate questions about where his loyalties lie, specifically manafort lied about sharing internal Campaign Polling data and discussing a socalled peace plan that would benefit russia. As muellers prosecutor told mueller quote this goes to the heart of what the special counsels office is investigating. All of this begs the question why would manafort risk spending the rest of his life in jail to keep those discussions secret . Theyve floated the theory that manafort might hope to be pardoned by the president. A pardon has been considered since 2017. But trump was most late last year. Saying quote i wouldnt take it off the table. Why would i take it off the table . And yet he can only pardon federal crimes and not state offenses. Quote new york state prosecutors have put together a criminal case against Paul Manafort that they could file