Originally Posted: October 30, 2017
DALLAS (CBS11) – Legal experts say while the 12 count indictment against President Trump’s ex-campaign manager Paul Manafort is very serious, it doesn’t mention the President or any alleged collusion with Russia.
Bill Mateja was the Senior Counsel for James Comey when he was the Deputy Attorney General for President George W. Bush.
He says the indictment, “suggests there is no evidence of a crime because it has to fit the parameters of a crime. It doesn’t appear that there is.”
Mateja says the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller may be trying to get Manafort to flip — and tell investigators what he knows about the Trump campaign. “I’m sure that the Special Counsel has already reached out to Manafort to flip, to cooperate, and either Manafort said no, orManafort didn’t have any evidence that the Special Counsel thought would be of import in trying to pursue charges against additional individuals. Sometimes, you have to file an indictment in order to be a catalyst to get somebody to flip.”
SMU Political Science Professor Matthew Wilson says the indictment won’t have any impact on President Trump’s popularity with his core supporters.
“Barring some sort of revelations that directly and indisputably implicated Trump himself, their support for his administration is not going to change,” said Wilson. READ MORE