BREAKING: Trump pardons STONE, MANAFORT, CHARLES KUSHNER

The Senate Intelligence Committee described Manafort – who was serving a sentence for financial crimes — as a direct conduit for Russian influence into the Trump campaign.

Trump's dangling of a pardon to Manafort was part of the evidence of potential obstruction of justice that Mueller laid out in his report.

Trump also pardoned Rand Paul ally Jesse Benton. In another news cycle this would've been a big deal. Here's the story of his indictment in 2015 -- w/ @mkraju and @DanielStrauss4 (!) https://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/rand-paul-2016-jesse-benton-super-pac-121034

MANAFORT still under scrutiny in New York, and the Manhattan DA says the pardon will create new urgency.

"This action underscores the urgent need to hold Mr. Manafort accountable for his crimes against the People of New York Cy Vance spokesman Danny Frost said in a statement.

WEISSMAN, the Mueller deputy who prosecuted Manafort, says prosecutors should put Stone and Manafort in front of a grand jury to determine what they refused to cooperate on earlier. https://twitter.com/AWeissmann_/status/1341917004492636160

NEW: Trump's pardons of Stone and Manafort erase Mueller's most hard-won convictions. They amount to Trump's most aggressive effort to erase any vestiges of the probe that has shadowed his entire presidency.

w/ @joshgerstein https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/23/trump-pardons-manafort-stone-kushner-450328

First Republican lawmaker to weigh in publicly on the Manafort/Stone pardons is Sen. SASSE, who says

“This is rotten to the core.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/23/trump-pardons-manafort-stone-kushner-450328