Today in two courtrooms hundreds of miles apart, Donald Trump wasn’t physically present, yet what happened could have a major impact on him and his future. In Alexandria, Virginia a jury found former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort guilty on 8 counts. Almost simultaneously Michael Cohen was in a New York courtroom pleaded guilty to several charges. The White House is staying silent on both cases.
Sarah Sanders declines to comment on Manafort & Cohen: “I don’t have anything for you on that,” she said.
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) August 21, 2018
While Sanders isn’t talking about either case Trump did briefly address the Manafort verdict.
BREAKING: Trump responds to Manafort guilty verdicts: “This has nothing to do with Russian collusion” #mtpdaily pic.twitter.com/9fZNfqvUHk
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) August 21, 2018
Trump wouldn’t answer questions about the stunning news out of another courtroom. Michael Cohen implicated Trump while striking his plea deal. CNN says, “Cohen said in a plea deal that ‘in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office’ he kept information that would have been harmful to the candidate and the campaign from becoming public.”
Michael Cohen took this step today so that his family can move on to the next chapter. This is Michael fulfilling his promise made on July 2nd to put his family and country first and tell the truth about Donald Trump.
— Lanny Davis (@LannyDavis) August 21, 2018
Today he stood up and testified under oath that Donald Trump directed him to commit a crime by making payments to two women for the principal purpose of influencing an election. If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn't they be a crime for Donald Trump?
— Lanny Davis (@LannyDavis) August 21, 2018
It’s hard to spin what happened today as anything but bad for the President.
BIG DAY: We have learned that we have a criminal President of the United States, who was elected by deceiving the American people. And a man who does not respect the foundation of our nation — the rule of law.
— John Dean (@JohnWDean) August 21, 2018
I've been skeptical about the wisdom and merit of impeachment. Cohen's guilty plea changes that. The president is clearly guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. He should resign his office or be impeached and removed from office. https://t.co/N23Z6vlfZa
— Bret Stephens (@BretStephensNYT) August 21, 2018
CNN also points out:
“Lawrence M. Noble, the former general counsel of the Federal Election Commission and a CNN contributor, said that Michael Cohen’s plea marks the first time in nearly 50 years that a US President has been accused of being a part of a campaign finance crime.”
I am seldom stunned. But I am.
— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) August 21, 2018
There is a ton we don’t know about the Trump organization, campaign, and administration’s activities. As we learn that Trump surrounded himself with criminals and benefitted from crimes, it should raise our suspicion that there’s vastly more wrongdoing lurking in Trumpworld.
— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) August 21, 2018
This New Yorker article written by Adam Davidson is a must read. Here’s an excerpt:
“Of course Trump is raging and furious and terrified. Prosecutors are now looking at his core. Cohen was the key intermediary between the Trump family and its partners around the world; he was chief consigliere and dealmaker throughout its period of expansion into global partnerships with sketchy oligarchs. He wasn’t a slick politico who showed up for a few months. He knows everything, he recorded much of it, and now prosecutors will know it, too. It seems inevitable that much will be made public. We don’t know when. We don’t know the precise path the next few months will take. There will be resistance and denial and counterattacks. But it seems likely that, when we look back on this week, we will see it as a turning point. We are now in the end stages of the Trump Presidency.”
We. Are. Coming. We are going to end this dumpster fire of a presidency one way or another. https://t.co/URJXR0aehx
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) August 21, 2018