Special Counsel Robert Mueller III found evidence suggesting President Donald Trump's public comments during the prosecution of Paul Manafort were intended to encourage his former campaign chairman to not cooperate with the government—and possibly to also sway the jury that would find Manafort guilty of financial fraud, according to a 448-page report released Thursday summarizing the Russia investigation.

Mueller's team closely examined Trump's public statements, whether uttered aloud to reporters or typed on Twitter, as part of its investigation into whether the president obstructed justice. In the report, Mueller's team identified numerous instances in which Trump offered praise not only for Manafort but also his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and in some cases raised the possibility of a pardon as they faced prosecution on charges arising from Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

“With respect to Manafort,” Mueller's team wrote, “there is evidence that the president's actions had the potential to influence Manafort's decision whether to cooperate with the government. The president and his personal counsel made repeated statements suggesting that a pardon was a possibility for Manafort, while also making it clear that the president did not want Manafort to 'flip' and cooperate with the government.”