What’s up with the smooth operator in the ostrich-skin jacket? He made a deal to tell the truth to the special prosecutor, ostensibly to get some years shaved off his prison time, but then he continued to lie for Donald Trump. I think Charles Pierce is on the right track:

The question, of course, is whether Manafort is completely stupid, overwhelmingly confident that he will be pardoned, or simply frightened by something even more terrifying than the prospect of spending his declining years in the federal sneezer—something like, say, a lovely bowl of strontium-90, served up to him by a concerned former overseas client. I used to laugh the latter explanation off. I don’t do that anymore. Something is happening in Manafort’s brainbox that dwarfs in his mind anything Mueller can do to him.