Dem senator: We will be in a ‘banana republic’ if Trump pardons Manafort ‘and gets away with it’

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Friday that the U.S. would be a “banana republic” should President Trump pardon his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and “get away with it.” 

“So I generally choose not to hang on every twist of the Mueller investigation, but if Trump pardons Manafort (after maybe having promised a pardon to get him not to cooperate) and gets away with it, then we’re in a banana republic. We just are,” Murphy tweeted.

So I generally choose not to hang on every twist of the Mueller investigation, but if Trump pardons Manafort (after maybe having promised a pardon to get him not to cooperate) and gets away with it, then we’re in a banana republic. We just are.

— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) August 17, 2018

Murphy’s comments came after Trump defended Manafort as a “good person” while speaking to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House earlier in the day. Trump made the remarks as a jury nears a verdict in Manafort’s trial for bank- and financial-fraud charges. 

{mosads}Trump called the trial, the first stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller‘s Russia investigation, “very sad.” 

“He happens to be a very good person and it happens to be very sad what they’ve done to Paul Manafort,” the president said. 

Trump later added that Manafort only worked on his 2016 presidential campaign for a “very short time.”

The comments about Manafort raised speculation about whether Trump would choose to pardon Manafort if he is convicted.

Manafort is currently facing 18 criminal charges, largely stemming from his time working for a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine.

Murphy has frequently criticized Trump throughout his presidency. In July, he said Trump’s trip to Europe was “one giant middle finger from President Trump to his own country” after Trump refused to denounce Russian interference in the 2016 election during a press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin.