Manafort and Cohen Are Guilty. Is Trump Next?
Just moments before former Trump lawyer and personal “fixer” Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to eight charges (including campaign finance violation), former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was found guilty of a slew of financial crimes. It is yet unclear how these events, perhaps the most significant consequences of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation thus far, will come to bear on Trump. For now, he has responded to the news with a familiar cry: “Witch Hunt!” More at Boston Globe.
…there is still no clear crime that would make Trump impeachable. There is still not enough in the Manafort verdict and Cohen plea bargain to force Republicans to desert the man on whom their fortunes in the November midterm elections (and beyond) depend. American politics is about to become even more partisan and personal because the legal stakes have just gotten higher. Are they high enough to end the Trump presidency, though? Probably not.
Manafort lost; Mueller won. This was a victory Mueller needed, and one that likely will strengthen his hand going forward in his investigation of how Russia tried to influence this country’s 2016 presidential election and whether President Trump’s campaign colluded with a foreign adversary… Had Manafort been acquitted, it would have been a big boost to Trump’s efforts to discredit Mueller’s work and brought more calls by Republicans for the special counsel to wrap up the inquiry soon.
Cohen’s plea could prove more damaging to the president than the Manafort verdict, if evidence backs up Cohen’s assertion that Trump knew about and directed the payoffs. Cohen has hardly been a pillar of veracity, and his deep legal jeopardy further challenges his credibility. Yet on Tuesday he sought to rope Trump into an alleged conspiracy to violate federal campaign finance law.