By Norman Eisen and Conor Shaw
POLITICO Magazine
January 5, 2018
When faced with the choice of whether or not to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller, George Papadopoulos and Michael Flynn reached the same wise conclusion: far better to strike a deal than bet on unknown contingencies such as presidential pardons.
But former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has made a very different calculation. He has stubbornly fought Mueller, all but daring him to file charges, and when he did, excoriating them through his lawyer’s public statements. Now, by filing a federal suit challenging Mueller’s appointment and authority to indict him, Manafort is engaging in his latest high-wire publicity stunt—one that risks a dangerous fall.