Trump Treatment of Former Aides: All Are Gone But Trump's Ugly Remarks Linger

Morons all of you - Good riddance to bad rubbish - stay away

Trump is no master of subtlety. Especially when it comes to the special counsel’s Russia investigation, he usually just comes right out and shares his take in a pre-dawn tweet or Fox News interview.

So it’s instructive to see what the President has said about his associates caught up in Robert Mueller’s probe — most of whom have offered some degree of cooperation — and how his attitude toward them has changed over time. Given Trump’s perspective that cooperating with the government “almost ought to be outlawed,” the range is remarkable.

This week, Trump again defended his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, as a fellow victim of a deep state conspiracy. Other former staffers have been sidelined as peripheral, or in the case of Michael Cohen, smeared as an Omertà-breaking rat. 

As legal experts have pointed out, these public evaluations are, in part, a tool Trump can use to try to direct his former associates’ testimony. Since Trump knows he has the “complete power to pardon,” he’s signaling what threat he believes they pose to him and what their fate could be.

Here is the President in his own words – more details on each person in the main article link here (Talking Points Memo):

MICHAEL FLYNN, the loyal general Trump won’t say a bad word about: Trump has stood by Flynn since he was dismissed from the administration in February 2017 after lying to the FBI and to administration officials about the contacts he had with Russia during the presidential transition. “He has been treated very, very unfairly by the media,” Trump said after Flynn’s firing.

PAUL MANAFORT, the possible pardon recipient who isn’t literally Al Capone: Though Trump has emphasized that Manafort’s criminal charges relate to activities largely carried out before he became Trump’s campaign manager, he believes Manafort also got a raw deal.

“Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign,” Trump tweeted in October 2017 after Manafort was indicted for bank and tax fraud.

MICHAEL COHEN, the ultimate lying rat: It didn’t take long for Trump to go from standing up for his former fixer to kicking him to the curb. When Cohen’s office and residences were raided by the FBI in April, Trump defended Cohen as a “fine person with a wonderful family” and lamented that “Attorney Client privilege is now a thing of the past. Michael is a businessman for his own account/lawyer who I have always liked & respected. Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if it means lying or making up stories. Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!” (Trump tweeted on April 21).

ROGER STONE, the gutsy Deep State warrior: The GOP dirty trickster has earned praise from Trump for refusing to cooperate with prosecutors trying to ascertain whether the campaign collaborated with WikiLeaks to release damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Stone has both trashed the probe and maintained that he will never testify against Trump — music to the President’s ears. Stone essentially stated “that he will not be forced by a rogue and out of control prosecutor to make up lies and stories about ‘President Trump,’” Trump tweeted in December. “Nice to know that some people still have guts!”

GEORGE PAPADOPOULOS, the “low level” volunteer: Papadopoulos pleaded guilty last October to lying to the FBI about his own contacts involving Russia during the campaign. Trump, who described Papadopoulos as an “excellent guy” in 2016, acknowledged this development by distancing himself from his former campaign adviser. “Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar,” Trump tweeted. Papadopoulos spent the following year veering between apparently angling for a pardon and working to cooperate with Mueller’s prosecutors. Trump paid little attention to him.

RICK GATES, escapee of presidential attention:  Gates appears to be the only cooperating witness who has been spared a presidential review. This is likely because the bulk of Gates’ cooperation involved sharing information on the sketchy financial dealings and Ukrainian lobbying work he and Manafort undertook. Despite Gates’ work on the Trump campaign, transition, inauguration and a pro-Trump super PAC, the President said nothing when Gates entered into a formal plea deal with Mueller in February.

My 2 cents: As I said more details on each of these former Trump players at the main story here.

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