*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).

Share:
More In Politics
What’s in the legislation to end the federal government shutdown
A legislative package to end the government shutdown appears on track. A handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the bill after what's become a deepening disruption of federal programs and services. But hurdles remain. Senators are hopeful they can pass the package as soon as Monday and send it to the House. What’s in and out of the bipartisan deal has drawn criticism and leaves few senators fully satisfied. The legislation includes funding for SNAP food aid and other programs while ensuring backpay for furloughed federal workers. But it fails to fund expiring health care subsidies Democrats have been fighting for, pushing that debate off for a vote next month.
Federal Reserve cuts key rate as shutdown clouds economic outlook
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
Load More