Trump: “I Don’t Know How You Can Impeach Somebody Who’s Done A Great Job”

With Donald Trump you don’t have to speculate about what he thinks, he sends messages straight through Twitter and Fox News. Today in an interview with Fox’s Ainsley Earhardt he sent Paul Manafort another message that a pardon may be on the way.

Earhardt: “Are you considering pardoning Paul Manafort”

Trump: “I have great respect for what he’s done.”

During the interview, Trump also downplayed his relationship with his longtime lawyer Michael Cohen (you knew this was coming). Trump dismissed him as was “one of many” lawyers he had, “didn’t do big deals,” and “not someone that was with me much.” Of course, who can forget the many times reporters asked questions about payments to Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels and Trump referred them to only one lawyer, Cohen. Also judging by tweets like this it sure seemed like they had a tight relationship.

As for Cohen’s allegation that Trump was a co-conspirator, Earnhardt didn’t directly ask about this. But there was this exchange:

Earhardt: “Did you direct him to make the payments”

Trump: “He made the deals, he made the deals. By the way, he pled to two counts that aren’t a crime. Which nobody understands.”

In the same breath, it seems Trump did know about the payments because he says “they didn’t come out of the campaign, they came from me.” Trump suggests this would make everything kosher, but he might want to consult his attorney on this point.

Trump may not think the circumstances of those payments were illegal, but he did seem to think Cohen implicating him during his plea deal Tuesday should be a crime. He said, “It called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal.”

Another target in Trump’s interview was Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

As for Trump’s own performance. He spent much of the interview patting himself on the back.

Watch the full interview above.