The price of loyalty towards Donald Trump

Thirty pieces of silver in exchange for cooperating with the law is one of the oldest games in the legal/prosecution world. There is no such thing as loyalty when it comes to facing 20 years in jail. Paul Manafort, Trump's former chairman of his team during the presidential election campaign, looked as if he was going to stay totally loyal to his president and do his time in prison without spilling the beans, or any beans. He seemed so intent on facing up to his likely punishment without snitching on Trump and the Russian link, alleged Russian link, that even the president went out of his way to praise Manafort for staying loyal. So many others, scared of going to prison, had agreed to cooperate with Robert Mueller, the special counsel ,and tell him everything they know about Russian collusion. But Manafort stood out as Trump’s golden boy. In fact, it has been widely rumoured that Trump intended to pardon Manafort for the crimes for which he has already been convicted, like money-laundering. But facing a whole lot of other charges, Manafort has finally caved in to the charms of Robert Mueller and has now agreed to cooperate with the Russia collusion investigation in the hope that his time in jail can be reduced. Mueller is like a large spider building an ever-growing web that grabs everything and everyone that comes its way. Manafort must have been told he had a choice, go to prison for 120 years or confess everything to Mueller. Out goes loyalty to the president. Poor old Trump, is there anyone left who is not cooperating with Mueller? It was a risky move by Manafort because I guess his chances of being pardoned by the president have now gone out of the window. Surely Mueller must now have a ton of stuff to produce his report to the Department of Justice? But does Manafort know something no one else knows, something to finally drive the nail into Trump’s coffin? Somehow I doubt it. The coffin nails I suspect are held by Donald Trump Junior, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and possibly Jeff Sessions, the attorney general. And Trump himself of course. The more Trump people who cross over to the Mueller side the less likely it will be, I suspect, that the president will agree to be interviewed by the special counsel. The whole investigation will end up stalemated and Trump will carry on regardless and go waltzing towards his second term as president.