*By Christian Smith*
President Trump is opening himself up to allegations of obstruction by publicly dangling a pardon in front of his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, "Proof of Collusion" author Seth Abramson told Cheddar on Monday.
Prosecutors last week accused Manafort of violating his plea deal, claiming he lied to investigators during their investigation about the Trump campaign's ties to Russia. Manafort had already guilty to bank and tax fraud in order to avoid convictions on other charges as part of the agreement. The charge that he broke that deal by lying puts him in an "enormous amount of legal danger," said Abramson, a former criminal defense attorney.
President Trump said last week that he had not discussed a pardon for Manafort, but that he would not "take it off the table."
"It's not just that President Trump is refusing to rule out a pardon, he really has many times over the past few months publically dangled a pardon in front of Paul Manafort. And just today, we saw him tweet about Roger Stone and seem to be encouraging Roger Stone not to cooperate with federal investigators," Abramson said. "So there's a real concern here about both obstruction and witness tampering."
Stone, Trump's former campaign advisor, is expected to be interviewed by the special counsel about his contact with WikiLeaks during the campaign. On ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, Stone said he would not testify against the president.
In a Monday tweet, Trump approvingly quoted Stone as saying "I will never testify against Trump." He added: "Nice to know that some people still have 'guts!'"
Abramson said he expects Trump's legal jeopardy to only increase.
"I think what we should expect is that things will continue to get worse and worse," Abramson said. "This will get closer to the president. It will go into his family and his top aides, and I think that with every day that he tweets he creates the risk of additional charges of obstruction and witness tampering."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/things-are-only-going-to-get-worse-for-president-trump-says-proof-of-collusion-author-seth-abramson).
The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the central bank’s next vote on interest rates. Trump sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.
President Donald Trump's administration is appealing a ruling blocking him from immediately firing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook as he seeks more control over the traditionally independent board. The notice of appeal was filed Wednesday, hours after U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb handed down the ruling. The White House insists the Republican president had the right to fire Cook over mortgage fraud allegations involving properties in Michigan and Georgia from before she joined the Fed. Cook's lawsuit denies the allegations and says the firing was unlawful. The case could soon reach the Supreme Court, which has allowed Trump to fire members of other independent agencies but suggested that power has limitations at the Fed.
Chief Justice John Roberts has let President Donald Trump remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by the Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Donald Trump has a message for critics who think turning the U.S. government into a major stockholder of Intel is a “socialist” move: More is coming.
Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook's lawyer says she'll sue President Donald Trump's administration to try to prevent him from firing her. Longtime Washington attorney Abbe Lowell said Tuesday that Trump “has no authority to remove” Cook. If Trump succeeds in removing Cook from the Fed's board of governors, it could erode the Fed’s political independence, which is considered critical to its ability to fight inflation because it enables the Fed to take unpopular steps like raising interest rates. The Republican president said Monday he was removing Cook because of allegations she committed mortgage fraud. Cook was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022 and says she won't step down.
Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook late Wednesday said she wouldn’t leave her post after Trump on social media called on her to resign over an accusation from one his officials that she committed mortgage fraud.
