Democratic lawmakers were quick to tie Paul Manafort’s partial guilty verdict and Michael Cohen’s guilty plea to future legal jeopardy for President Trump on Tuesday, while congressional Republicans less enthusiastically waded into the political fray.
“Today’s guilty verdicts against President Trump’s campaign Chairman, Paul Manafort, and the guilty plea of Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, are further evidence of the rampant corruption and criminality at the heart of Trump’s inner circle,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi wrote in a statement, not referring to any efforts to impeach the president.
“Congressional Republicans’ determination to cover up for the President and his criminal cronies betrays their oath of office and undermines their duty to the American people,” the California Democrat continued. “House Republicans must abandon their complicity with President Trump and affirm that no one is above the law.”
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., warned Trump against issuing pardons for Cohen and Manafort after their respective plea deal and verdicts were announced.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said Manafort’s conviction proves special counsel Robert Mueller’s federal Russia investigation “is not a ‘witch hunt.'” Rep. Adam Schiff of California, his Democratic counterpart on the House intel panel, said Cohen’s profession of guilt in particular was problematic for Trump.
“Michael Cohen’s guilty plea appears to implicate the President in a knowing violation of campaign finance laws, with the payment of hush money to advance the Trump campaign,” Schiff wrote on Twitter. “This is the first guilty plea directly alleging potential criminal activity by the President.”
[More: Wall Street Journal: Manafort, Cohen convictions show Trump ‘at his worst’]
Michael Cohen’s guilty plea appears to implicate the President in a knowing violation of campaign finance laws, with the payment of hush money to advance the Trump campaign. This is the first guilty plea directly alleging potential criminal activity by the President.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) August 21, 2018
Republicans, however, were more circumspect.
“We are aware of Mr. Cohen’s guilty plea to these serious charges. We will need more information than is currently available at this point,” the office of House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told the Washington Post, not mentioning Manafort.
Asked Paul Ryan’s office for their reaction to today’s news. Here’s the statement I just got. “We are aware of Mr. Cohen’s guilty plea to these serious charges. We will need more information than is currently available at this point.”
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) August 21, 2018
“Thus far, there have yet to be any charges or convictions for colluding with the Russian government by any member of the Trump campaign in the 2016 election,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., reminded his Twitter followers, adding the news of Manafort and Cohen’s cases demonstrated the strength of U.S. justice institutions.
The American legal system is working its will in both the #PaulManafort and #MichaelCohen cases.
Thus far, there have yet to be any charges or convictions for colluding with the Russian government by any member of the Trump campaign in the 2016 election.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) August 21, 2018
Pushing aside the politicking, Tuesday’s developments will have practical implications for Trump when it comes to allegations of foreign interference still lingering from 2016.
The chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee told reporters Tuesday they had “re-engaged” Cohen over concerns he misled lawmakers regarding the controversial 2016 Trump Tower meeting. The meeting was set up between key campaign officials and a Kremlin-linked lawyer, who promised political dirt on Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
Manafort was found guilty Tuesday by a federal district court in Virginia of five tax fraud charges for filing false income tax returns from 2010 to 2014. He was also found guilty of one count of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts in 2012. In addition, the jury returned guilty verdicts concerning two counts of bank fraud charges related to a $3.4 million loan from Citizens Bank and a $1 million loan from Banc of California. Manafort faced 18 charges stemming from Mueller’s Russia inquiry.
Cohen pleaded guilty in a New York federal district court on Tuesday to five tax evasion charges for failing to report $4 million in income from 2012 to 2016 and one count of making a false statement to a bank from 2015 to 2016 when applying for a home equity line of credit. He also pleaded guilty to charges associated with willfully causing an unlawful corporate contribution in 2016 and one count of making an excessive campaign contribution in 2016.
Cohen’s contribution charges are believed to be tied to nondisclosure agreements he brokered for porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who both claim to have had extramarital affairs with Trump, before the 2016 election. He told the court Tuesday he had been directed to make a $130,000 payment to a woman by an unnamed federal candidate in exchange for her silence. The figure matches the hush money given to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
Cohen’s charges emanated from an investigation led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York after it received a referral from Mueller’s team.
