seandotpolitics:

Shortly after federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York filed their sentencing memo for President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, the commander in chief took to Twitter to share his interpretation of what the document meant for him. “Totally clears the President,” Trump wrote. “Thank you!”

That was quite the curious conclusion of a document, which combined with one from the office of special counsel Robert Mueller, “make clearer than ever before the case against President Trump,” as The New Yorker writes. The memo by federal prosecutors concluded Trump directed Cohen to commit campaign finance violations relating to payments to two women, Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. “During the campaign, Cohen played a central role in two similar schemes to purchase the rights to stories—each from women who claimed to have had an affair with Individual 1—so as to suppress the stories and thereby prevent them from influencing the election,” prosecutors wrote. As if that wasn’t clear enough, prosecutors wrote that Cohen “acted in coordination with and at the direction of Individual 1.” Prosecutors also said Trump directly approved Cohen’s plan to try to coordinate actions with the Russian government.

Enter George Conway, the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway who has emerged as a strong critic of the president and decided to fact-check the president’s tweet. “Except for that little part where the US Attorney’s Office says that you directed and coordinated with Cohen to commit two felonies. Other than that, totally scot-free,” he wrote.

George Conway Ridicules Trump for Saying Court Filing “Totally Clears the President”

seandotpolitics:

[Robert Mueller] has built his case by interviewing nearly everyone in Trump’s inner circle, many of whom have become cooperating witnesses and many others of whom have doubtlessly opted to tell the truth rather than risk perjury or obstruction of justice charges. Their information is locked in FBI transcripts and grand jury testimony, and the individuals can be called before Congress to testify.

When the time comes, the witnesses against Trump won’t be members of the special counsel’s office. The witnesses will be people like former White House counsel Don McGahn and firsthand witnesses like Rick Gates and Michael Flynn.

This will make it a lot more difficult for the White House to discredit the factual case. Now, it has been reported that the White House really has no plan for how to react to Mueller’s charges, whenever or however they come. The basic thought in the West Wing is that they’ll just follow the president’s lead. For Republicans on the Hill, this isn’t much to work with…

The Mueller revelations won’t be rebutted by a clever set of counterpoints that help win a 24-hour news cycle. The revelations will provide the context for hearings and a guide to calling witnesses. The Republicans will be forced to explain why it’s not a serious offense to commit campaign finance violations, to dangle pardons or clemency before witnesses, to encourage people to perjure themselves or otherwise obstruct justice. They’ll watch the president’s lies fall like dominoes based on the say-so not of Fake News reporters and a biased Deep State, but based on the testimony of former right-wing heroes…

What brought Nixon down was the testimony of his own people, and that’s what ultimately will bring Trump down, too.   

See also,

It’s Not Looking Good for ‘Individual-1’.

Trump will be brought down by his own people