As with all NYT articles on Russia written or co-written by that retard Haberman, this is 90% useless because it is 70% stenography to preserve WH access and 20% nonsensical musing about legal concepts that these nonlawyer idiots don't understand but feel qualified to write about.

But then you get nuggets of real news buried a dozen paragraphs down:

WASHINGTON — A lawyer for President Trump broached the idea of Mr. Trump pardoning two of his former top advisers, Michael T. Flynn and Paul Manafort, with their lawyers last year, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions.

...

Mr. Dowd’s conversation with Mr. Flynn’s lawyer, Robert K. Kelner, occurred sometime after Mr. Dowd took over last summer as the president’s personal lawyer, at a time when a grand jury was hearing evidence against Mr. Flynn on a range of potential crimes. Mr. Flynn, who served as Mr. Trump’s first national security adviser, agreed in late November to cooperate with the special counsel’s investigation.

Mr. Dowd has said privately that he did not know why Mr. Flynn had accepted a plea, according to one of the people. He said he had told Mr. Kelner that the president had long believed that the case against Mr. Flynn was flimsy and was prepared to pardon him, the person said.

Mr. Dowd, who was hired last year to defend the president during the Mueller inquiry, took the lead in dealing directly with Mr. Flynn’s and Mr. Manafort’s lawyers, according to two people familiar with how the legal team operated.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3932251&forum_id=2#35711467)

Kellyanne Conway’s husband has had some strong words for President Donald Trump lately.

Shortly after the Wednesday afternoon publication of a New York Times report that Trump’s former lawyer had discussed potential pardons for Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort, George Conway called the report "flabbergasting.”

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/28/george-conway-white-house-trump-twitter-kellyanne-489842

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3932251&forum_id=2#35712132)

And by the way, you were calling for Trump to pardon Flynn back in Jan/Feb 2017.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3932251&forum_id=2#35712180)

OP: "As with all NYT articles on Russia written or co-written"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3932251&forum_id=2#35712241)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/us/politics/trump-sessions-russia-mcgahn.html

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3932251&forum_id=2#35712318)

I don't know why it triggers you so much when it is stated that a president cannot be held legally liable for invoking his given constitutional authority under Article II. Don't like it?, amend the constitution.

The fact is that as a post-president private citizen, it would not be possible to levy criminal 'obstruction' charges for behavior that he could legally conduct as president.

The max Mueller has is bogus civil charges on par with what the Trump Organization was hit by FinCEN with back in early 2015. GOP voters didn't care, the GOP establishment still signed a pledge to support him, even knowing what he did.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3932251&forum_id=2#35712286)

It's supposed to be legal but I agree that in reality it's very political. If Mueller suggests impeachment and trial would it sway some GOP members of congress? It might depend on what he finds.

"I don't know why it triggers you so much when it is stated that a president cannot be held legally liable for invoking his given constitutional authority under Article II. Don't like it?, amend the constitution."

There is a DOJ memo that says the pres can't be indicted in office but no case law. I'd defer to the memo but I wouldn't say it's necessarily settled.

"The fact is that as a post-president private citizen, it would not be possible to levy criminal 'obstruction' charges for behavior that he could legally conduct as president."

I don't agree with that at all and the DOJ memo does not say that either. I find that argument to be no better than Nixon's "when the President does it, it's not illegal!"

"The max Mueller has is bogus civil charges on par with what the Trump Organization was hit by FinCEN with back in early 2015. GOP voters didn't care, the GOP establishment still signed a pledge to support him, even knowing what he did."

No one knows what Mueller is finding. Money laundering, FCPA violations, defraud US/honest services, obstruction, etc. It could be anything against people in trump's orbit or nothing at all.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3932251&forum_id=2#35715991)

The stunning emails show officials at the Office of the Pardon Attorney last July discussing news articles about Trump’s pardoning powers via Twitter. The documents were obtained by CNN from the Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower nonprofit, after it received them from a Freedom of Information Act request.

http://www.newsweek.com/trump-could-issue-pardon-michael-flynn-and-paul-manafort-twitter-865553

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3932251&forum_id=2#35715952)

On Tuesday night, after the initial publication of this article, he wrote in a tweet to Newsweek about his earlier post, “I stand by my tweet. This is all my personal opinion and I stand by it.”

But moments after that comment, he tweeted again to Trump. “Mr. President, I personally believe that a pardon is due to General Flynn, given the apparent and obvious illegitimacy of the manner in which the so called ‘crimes’ he plead (sic) guilty to were extracted from him,” he wrote. “I ask for quick action on this. Thank you and keep up the good work!”

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3932251&forum_id=2#35716205)

The question for this column is could Dowd—Dowd, not Trump—have personal criminal exposure? Assuming, and underlining the word “assuming,” these proposed facts, indeed he may. If the report is correct, one could conclude that he basically communicated to them or to their lawyers: “Clam up and you’ll be paid for it, with a pardon.”

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3932251&forum_id=2#35844587)