Cohen can aid the Russia probe, but also Trump Organization investigations that lie beyond Trump's pardon power and/or capacity to thwart by eliminating Mueller. Flynn and Papadopoulos are two Russia witnesses selling the same anti-FBI line—which suggests expectation of a pardon.
2/ We have to remember that the only good advice Trump has gotten from his lawyers is that his case is largely a *political* case, as if he can stay in office and be re-elected, he can forestall a prosecution until mid-2025—and who knows (given his age) if he'll be around then.
3/ Pardoning Papadopoulos, Manafort, and Flynn wouldn't eliminate the utility, of course, of all the info they passed to prosecutors—but if Trump pardons all three on the grounds that the Mueller investigation was a political witch-hunt, he at least has a narrative to work with.
4/ The plan would be two-pronged: (1) fight in court and Congress, directly and indirectly, to ensure America never sees the Mueller report and (2) issue pardons that dovetail with a narrative that good public servants were prosecuted over non-Russia crimes for political reasons.
5/ If the Mueller Report's release to the public is somehow blocked at the DOJ, SCOTUS, or Congressional levels, Trump can even so release a report using info from public Flynn, Manafort, and Papadopoulos filings (rather than his illicit intel streams) to paint a false narrative.
6/ Trump may or may not execute a plan like this, but what Papadopoulos' shenanigans, Flynn's self-defeating jabs at the FBI, and Manafort's withdrawal from his deal all do is *preserve* (a) the chance of a pardon for all, and (b) a false political narrative Trump could turn to.
