Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., warned President Trump and the White House against issuing pardons for Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort after their respective plea deal and verdict were announced.
“I understand the president’s on his way to a rally. He better not talk about pardons for Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort tonight or anytime in the future,” Schumer said during a press conference while discussing his meeting with Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s Supreme Court pick.
[More: Trump’s ‘bad week’: Manafort found guilty, Cohen enters plea deal]
Schumer declined to delve into specifics on the situations involving the president’s personal attorney and former campaign manager, citing his meeting with Kavanaugh. The meeting wrapped only 45 minutes before his press conference to discuss the Supreme Court nominee.
Earlier, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts, including one of excessive campaign contribution per the direction of a candidate for federal office.
Manafort, one of Trump’s campaign managers during his 2016 campaign, was found guilty on eight counts — five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud, and one count of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts in 2012.
Trump addressed the situations involving Manafort upon arrival in West Virginia for a campaign rally in Charleston, saying he feels “very badly” for his former campaign chief.
“This has nothing to do with Russian collusion,” Trump said calling the Manafort conviction a “disgrace.” “I feel very badly for Paul Manafort … It was not the original mission, believe me. It was something very much different.”
