USA TODAY International Edition
What Manafort, Cohen woes mean for president
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump says the guilty verdict for Paul Manafort, his former campaign chairman, has nothing to do with him.
He also has continued to attack special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Moscow’s interference in the 2016 presidential election as a “witch hunt,” saying his campaign did not coordinate with Russia.
“Where is the collusion?” he said at a rally in Charleston, West Virginia, on Tuesday night. “Find the collusion.”
Trump is correct that neither the case against Manafort nor the unrelated guilty plea by former Trump attorney Michael Cohen presents any direct evidence that the Trump campaign conspired with Russia.
But those court proceedings give new momentum to a wide-ranging investigation led by Mueller and could pose dangers for the president.
Question: Trump was identified as an unindicted co-conspirator in the case of Michael Cohen. Could Trump himself be indicted?
Answer: Constitutionally, it’s an open question that has never been tested in court.
“All they get to do is write a report,” Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said in May. “They can’t indict.”
The Justice Department’s own guidelines seem to back that up. A 39page opinion written in 2000 – in the aftermath of President Bill Clinton’s Monica Lewinsky scandal – upheld Nixon-era guidance: “Our view remains that a sitting President is constitutionally immune from indictment and criminal prosecution.”
So the only remedy to charge a president with a crime could be impeachment.
Q: What is the danger for the president?
A: The jury convicted Manafort on eight counts of tax evasion, money laundering and bank fraud – none of which was tied to Manafort’s role on the Trump campaign. But Manafort is also scheduled to stand trial next month on separate charges of conspiracy, money laundering and concealing his work as an agent of a foreign government.
Those charges are related to his work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine. And while Trump isn’t directly implicated, the timeframe of Manafort’s alleged criminal activity overlaps with his time as campaign chairman.
The fact that Manafort stood trial suggests he hasn’t been cooperating with Mueller. But could that change after Tuesday’s verdict? “He is evaluating all of his options at this point,” Manafort attorney Kevin Downing said.
Q: Cohen is eager to cooperate. What does Cohen know about Russian collusion?
A: Cohen pleaded guilty to tax and bank fraud charges apparently unrelated to his work for Trump. But two counts directly implicate Trump, saying that the then-candidate directed Cohen to pay hush money to porn actress Stormy Daniels and centerfold model Karen McDougal. Prosecutors say the payments violated campaign finance laws.
But Cohen also has his own Russian connections. Here’s one: 11 days before the inauguration, he met at Trump Tower with Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian oligarch seeking Cohen’s help in improving U.S.-Russian relations. Vekselberg’s company, Columbus Nova, later offered Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.