Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for Donald Trump, was indicted on charges of conspiracy, money laundering, making false and misleading statements, and others. The indictments were not a shock to many, as Special Investigator Robert Mueller has been looking into Manafort’s finances for the better part of a year now.
Manafort’s business associate, Rick Gates, has also been indicted on the same charges as Mueller works to get the two to testify against each other. While these charges occurred before Manafort’s work for the Trump campaign, they still shed light on the unethical people that Trump has surrounded himself not only during his campaign, but throughout his presidency as well.
The charges to come could prove fatal for the Trump Administration, as top White House aides fear of an impendeing indictment against Michael Flynn. Flynn was Trump’s national security advisor for 24 days after he resigned on Feb 14th after The Washington Post reported that Flynn lied to Vice President Mike Pence about his meeting with Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak.
“It is certainly troubling when you find out that people you trusted to hold public office lie right back to the same people that placed their trust in them,” junior Rowan Mulcahy said.
In early November, NBC News reported that Mueller has enough evidence to indict Flynn and his son, which could cause even more problems for an already compromised Trump Administration.
“The fact that they have not gotten Flynn on his crime right now means that they are building a more secure case and they are probably going to bring out more charges than not registering as a foreign agent,” former counterintelligence analyst for the Department of Homeland Security and current AP Government teacher Angela Oliver said.
What will come next in uncertain. Mueller has been incredibly meticulous in his handling of the Russia investigation. He has reserved a portion of Manafort’s charges at the state level to prevent Trump from using his pardoning power to get Manafort free from consequences and more importantly keep Manafort from revealing potentially illegal acts.
“Doing that is a very smart move because President Trump can only pardon on a federal level. He can’t pardon anything the state of New York brings up,” Oliver said.
As president, Trump has the ability to grant clemency to convicted felons. He has already used his executive pardoning power to free Joe Arpaio after he was found guilty of criminal contempt in a racial profiling case while serving as a sheriff in Arizona.
“Trump using his pardon power completely unethically is definitely something that should concern the American people,” senior Abeer Alsadhan said. “Especially since his whole Administration is being investigated and indicted on charges of treason to the American government.”
These concerns have not been aired without action.
“The Democrats have already started the Articles of Impeachment,” Oliver said. “[Impeachment] will not exempt him from being charged. There is a possibility that Pence becomes President [and then] commute[s] his sentence, similar to Nixon.”
There a multitude of concerns with the current administration, but the most paramount being its stability. The house could come crumbling down, and replaced by our first female president.
“If they catch Pence in a lie…then the Speaker of the House becomes President, then you are probably looking at after midterms, most likely with a Democrat ruled Congress, and Nancy Pelosi as our 47th President of the United States.”
