Trump’s tottering house of cards
Despite his devil-may-care defiance, things are looking shaky for the US president as former allies round on him
YOU’D think he’d be a nervous wreck right now. With two of his right-hand men facing jail time and words such as impeachment being bandied about, things have never looked worse for Donald Trump. And yet amazingly the US president isn’t allowing any of this to get him down.
“What we’re doing is winning,” he bragged at a rally in Charleston recently.
But even for Trump (72) this seemed like a big stretch.
In August the president was dealt a double blow as his former presidential campaign manager Paul Manafort (69) and his lawyer Michael Cohen (51) were found guilty of a litany of crimes – some of which were committed to protect Trump.
Manafort’s crimes include eight counts of bank and tax fraud relating to the millions he made advising Russia-backed politicians in Ukraine.
And as if that wasn’t bad enough Cohen, whom Trump regarded as his fixer, was found guilty of five counts of tax evasion as well as campaign finance violations relating to hush money he paid to porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal (47), who both claim to have had affairs with Trump.
In America paying to bury potentially embarrassing stories about a political candidate is a big no-no but Cohen insists he was simply following orders.
He once bragged he’d be willing to take a bullet for his boss. But as he faces the prospect of five years behind bars he’s making it clear he intends cooperating with the Russian election meddling probe headed by special counsel Robert Mueller. Having been trusted with the president’s most sensitive secrets for 12 years, he’d make an invaluable witness.
But Cohen and Manafort aren’t the only bad apples. There are more key people close to Trump who’ve been found guilty of crimes – from tax evasion to lying to the FBI. In fact, there are so many of them the media are now referring to them as “all the president’s crooks”.
As the noose tightens and the Russia probe intensifies, Trump’s presidency is looking increasingly shaky and experts are warning it’s just a matter of time before it all comes tumbling down.