NYT’s Michael Schmidt: Trump Lawyer Discussed Pardons for Flynn, Manafort Last Year

EXCERPT:

SCHMIDT: “The discussions happened last summer as Mueller was building his cases against Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, and Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser. John Dowd, the President’s lawyer talked with Manafort and Flynn’s lawyers saying that the President was prepared to do this. Dowd has told folks that the President and him believe that the case against Flynn was very flimsy, that there was no need for these guys to plea and that he should accept the pardon. The question here is, what did the President know about this? Was John Dowd acting on his own? Was he out there freelancing, talking about this consulting with the President or is this something the President told him to do?"