President Trump’s pardoning of conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza is a clear message to his embattled personal attorney Michael Cohen and former campaign manager Paul Manafort not to cooperate with investigations into Trump-Russia collusion, according to a former federal prosecutor who investigated President Bill Clinton.
“My first thought is: Trump likes to do stuff where he can do it without asking anyone permission, and the pardon is the quintessential presidential power that is unreviewable. It makes him feel like a king, which is what he wants,” said Paul Rosenzweig, who served as senior counsel under special prosecutor Ken Starr during the Whitewater investigation and now works at the center-right D.C. think tank R Street.“On the other hand, he’s not an idiot, and he knows the effect of what he’s doing on other people. He also probably thinks it’s a not-terribly-subtle, but reasonable, effective message to guys like Cohen and Manafort and all the others that he’s got their back — provided they stay loyal to him.”
Cohen is being probed for bank fraud and campaign-finance violations regarding $130,000 in hush money he paid to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about her alleged affair with Trump before the election. He has not been charged with a crime.
But if Cohen decides to cooperate, the longtime Trump Organization fixer could have invaluable information for special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating whether team Trump colluded with Russians to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Manafort is charged in Virginia with tax evasion and bank fraud for allegedly taking payments from the Ukrainian government and hiding them from Uncle Sam while failing to register as a foreign agent. He has pleaded not guilty.
Rosenzweig said if he was Manafort or Cohen, he’d be thinking “where’s mine?” now that Trump has pardoned D’Souza.
It’s unclear whether Trump’s gambit will pay off — even if he were to issue a pardon to anyone involved in the Russia probe, he can only clear federal crimes, and state or local prosecutors could still go after his allies.
“Fraud is fraud, and so a pardon for Cohen or Manafort or [Trump’s unindicted son-in-law] Jared Kushner — if it ever came to that — would be a significant event,” Rosenzweig said. “But I don’t think it would be the silver bullet that President Trump may be hoping that it is.”
But the state’s double-jeopardy laws could prevent state prosecutors from bringing a case against Cohen, prosecutors say.
“A strategically-timed pardon could prevent individuals who may have violated our State’s laws from standing trial,” disgraced New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman wrote in an April 18 letter asking the legislature to close the “loophole.”
Meanwhile, his successor, Interim Attorney General Barbara Underwood, slammed Trump for “undermining the rule of law” with the D’Souza pardon.
“President Trump’s latest pardon makes crystal clear his willingness to use his pardon power to thwart the cause of justice, rather than advance it,” Underwood said in a statement.
“By pardoning Dinesh D’Souza, President Trump is undermining the rule of law by pardoning a political supporter who is an unapologetic convicted felon. First it was Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Then it was Scooter Libby. Now it’s Dinesh D’Souza. We can’t afford to wait to see who will be next.”