Lawmakers evaluate import of allegations

WASHINGTON — The incoming Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said Sunday it would be an “impeachable offense” if it’s proved that President Trump directed illegal hush-money payments to women, stressing a need for continuing investigations and a deeper look by Congress into the extent of presidential misconduct.

Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York described the details in prosecutors’ filings Friday in the case of Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, as evidence that Trump was “at the center of a massive fraud.” Prosecutors for the first time link Trump to a federal crime of illegal payments to buy the silence of two women during the 2016 campaign, and they lay out previously undisclosed contacts with Russians during the 2016 election.

“They would be impeachable offenses,” Nadler said of the illegal payments. “Whether they are important enough to justify an impeachment is a different question, but certainly they’d be impeachable offenses because even though they were committed before the president became president, they were committed in the service of fraudulently obtaining the office.”

Nadler said it is too early to say whether Congress would pursue impeachment proceedings based on illegal payments alone. Lawmakers would need to weigh the gravity of the offense to justify “overturning” the result of the 2016 election, he said. He and other lawmakers said Sunday they will need to await findings from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference and possible coordination with the Trump campaign.

Mueller has not said when he will complete a report of any findings, and it isn’t clear that any such report would be made available to Congress. That would be up to the attorney general. Trump said Friday he would nominate former Attorney General William Barr to the post.

Nadler indicated that Democrats, who will control the House in January, will step up their own investigations into possible collaboration between the Trump campaign and Russia. He said Congress, the Justice Department and the special counsel need to dig deeper into the allegations, which include questions about whether Trump lied about his business arrangements with Russians and about possible obstruction of justice.

“We will try to get to the bottom of this, in order to serve the American people and to stop this massive conspiracy,” he said.

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank, the incoming chairman of the House intelligence committee, also stressed a need to wait “until we see the full picture.”

In legal filings Friday, the Justice Department stopped short of accusing Trump of directly committing a crime. But it said Trump told Cohen to make illegal payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, both of whom said they had affairs with Trump more than a decade ago and who threatened his White House bid. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

Nadler appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” and Schiff on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”