NYT Op Ed "Can Michael Cohen Bring Down Trump? "

[NRaleighLiberal]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/22/opinion/michael-cohen-donald-trump-robert-mueller.html

Who knows, the once-cocky fixer, now humbled, could find himself a star witness at hearings on impeachment of our 45th president.
By Ken White
Mr. White is a criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor at Brown White & Osborn.

On Tuesday, Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former consigliere and a man who had a talent for ostentatious indifference, walked into federal court and pleaded guilty to eight felonies. Remember during the election when he was confronted on CNN with dismal polls suggesting his candidate was losing, and he scoffed, “Says who?” That time his bravado was warranted.

But yesterday it was a remarkable reversal of fortune for the man who styled himself the president’s attack dog and fixer, a man quick with a threat of a libel suit or a promise to destroy journalists who vexed him or his boss. Mr. Cohen was forced to abase himself before a roomful of reporters, admitting to a wide range of serious wrongdoing, including tax evasion and bank fraud — while also directly implicating the president of the United States in federal campaign finance violations.

This preposterous age of manic news cycles — Mr. Cohen’s admission came on the same day that Paul Manafort, the president’s former campaign chairman, was convicted of eight counts of tax and bank fraud — weekly bombshells and improbable politics has left us deadened to amazing developments. So let me repeat it for emphasis and for history: The president’s personal lawyer pleaded guilty to a federal crime and testified under oath that the president told him to do it.

In the most explosive admissions, Mr. Cohen pleaded guilty to two federal campaign finance violations on behalf of — and, according to Mr. Cohen, testifying under oath, “in coordination with and at the direction of” — President Trump. The charging document describes a scheme to pay off Karen McDougal, the former Playboy model, and the adult film actress Stormy Daniels to buy their silence about their affairs with Mr. Trump. Mr. Cohen admitted to arranging for American Media, Inc. — publisher of The National Enquirer — to pay Ms. McDougal $150,000 to keep her story quiet to protect the Trump campaign, thus causing a prohibited corporate campaign contribution.

snip

last paragraph

For now, Mr. Trump’s status as president likely immunizes him from indictment and prosecution. But he’s not immune from impeachment, nor is he immune from being implicated as an unindicted co-conspirator in a raft of other indictments. Especially if Democrats manage the blue wave of their dreams in the midterms, the once-cocky fixer Michael Cohen, now humbled, could find himself a star witness at hearings on impeachment of our 45th president. And that’s why you always pay your lawyer.

[ffr]

1. Hint: If we turn this momentum into electing democrats, that would truly be the GOP's biggest fear.

Russia's, as well.

[dajoki]

2. This has not been tested yet..

"For now, Mr. Trump’s status as president likely immunizes him from indictment and prosecution"

[2naSalit]

4. Precisely...

and may this be the test that indicates it can be done and is done.

[dalton99a]

3. Kick