We’ve discussed at various points all the ways that President Trump has signaled to Paul Manafort that a pardon is on offer is he just keeps his mouth shut. It’s even worse than we thought.

According to a story just out this morning in Politico, Trump and Manafort still have a joint defense agreement in place, which is to say that everything that Trump’s lawyers and Manafort’s lawyers find out in the course of the probe they can share with each other.

Here’s a key passage …

Giuliani also confirmed that Trump’s lawyers and Manafort’s have been in regular contact and that they are part of a joint defense agreement that allows confidential information sharing. “All during the investigation we have an open communication with them,” he said. “Defense lawyers talk to each other all the time where as long as our clients authorize it therefore we have a better idea of what’s going to happen. That’s very common.”

We’ll have more on this as we go through the day. This is a fact with huge implications.