13 December 2018

The Noose Tightens

The time may soon come where Donald Trump wishes yesterday didn't happen.

First, his personal attorney and fixer Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in federal prison for the crimes he committed for Trump's benefit and upon his direction (details here). If Trump were not the sitting President, he would be indicted for what he did and would currently be facing criminal charges.

When speaking in court yesterday, Cohen said he had "been living in a personal and mental incarceration ever since the day that I accepted the offer to work for" Trump. Thereafter, he said his "blind loyalty" led him "to take a path of darkness instead of light."

Shortly after Cohen's sentencing hearing, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced that it had obtained what is known as a non-prosecution agreement with the National Enquirer tabloid's parent company to disclose all details of a hush money operation to prevent disclosure of Trump's adulterous affair with a Playboy playmate (details here). The Enquirer admitted it took this action to influence the 2016 election and to help Trump's chances of becoming President.

As the Washington Post reported later in the day (link here), Trump is now in much greater legal jeopardy as a result of what happened yesterday. Tradition holds that a sitting President may not be indicted, but that protection would end the minute Trump leaves office.

Of course, these issues are separate from the legal jeopardy Trump faces over the possibility of illegal collusion with Russia and related criminal conspiracies, investigations of which continue.

Which means more shoes may drop and soon. Stay tuned.

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