Privately, according to the Mueller Report, the president was “ask[ing] his lawyers for advice on the possibility of a pardon for Manafort and other aides,” even as “Manafort remained in a joint defense agreement with the President following Manafort’s guilty plea and agreement to cooperate, and … Manafort’s attorneys regularly briefed the President’s lawyers on the topics discussed and the information Manafort had provided in interviews with the Special Counsel’s Office.”
