On Lawfare, Paul Rosenzweig opines that Special Counsel Mueller may be feeling the pressure, as Rosenzweig doesn’t see the witness tampering charge against Manafort as being compelling.
So what is going on here? Why would Mueller’s team, whose actions to date have been premised on overwhelming evidence, take this risk and go out on this evidentiary limb?
My speculation is simple: This is a sign that they are feeling pressure. Possibly from Trump. Possibly from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Possibly just from their reading of the public tea leaves. Whatever the source of the pressure, they have an increased sense of urgency to move quickly.
And that translates to the want, and need, for Manafort’s cooperation. Not later but now. And the only way to get that cooperation now is to ramp up the pressure. The motion, if successful, would put Manafort in jail sooner rather than later, at the end of what promises to be a lengthy trial. That would concentrate Manafort’s mind quite a bit—and this is the type of pressure tactic that prosecutors use all the time. So that isn’t a surprise.
What is surprising, as I have said, is how thin the factual basis appears to be for these charges. I hope that the Mueller team isn’t rushing its effort. Now is no time to panic.
An interesting insight. Or perhaps they’ve run into a wall and are looking for a way to get the next bit of information. Manafort, as campaign chairman, would certainly be a best bet, outside of going to the source of the matter, but Trump won’t talk to Mueller. Not for all the money in the world.
