Explosive revelations in Russia saga add up to a bad day for Trump: CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/14/politics/russia-investigation-paul-manafort-michael-cohen-matt-whitaker/index.html

Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 1:09 AM ET, Thu March 14, 2019
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It would be hard to think of a more damaging day for a President than one on which his former campaign chairman disappeared behind bars for years to come. But Paul Manafort's new sentence was the least of Donald Trump's worries Wednesday as his Russia investigation nightmare took yet another turn for the worse.

New suspicions about dangled pardons, conflicting congressional testimony, implicit pleas for clemency and fresh suggestions of inappropriate presidential behavior delivered a new twist to the drama with Washington already on edge in anticipation of special counsel Robert Mueller's final report.

CNN reported explosive new revelations involving Cohen's allegation that a pardon had been dangled in exchange for him staying loyal to the President, in which he was purportedly told he could be sure he had "friends in high places."

Both new angles on the Russia intrigue came on the day that a judge added to the prison sentence of Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, after he was snared in Mueller's investigation. He faces a total of 7.5 years in prison.

For the second time in a week, a Manafort attorney emerged from a sentencing hearing and appeared to twist a judge's words in a way that raised suspicions he was bolstering Trump's claims that there was "no collusion" in return for a pardon for his client.

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