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| In testimony Wednesday, Donald Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen called Trump a racist, a conman and a cheat. |
Cohen puts meat on the bones of Trump's campaign finance crimes |
| By Paul Seamus Ryan |
| Americans have had strong reason to believe that President Donald Trump violated federal campaign finance laws on his way to winning the 2016 presidential election — by hiding from voters the fact that he directed hundreds of thousands of dollars of "hush money" payments to Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels to influence the election. |
| We filed complaints with the Department of Justice last year in January and February alleging these violations. Despite Michael Cohen's own comment in January 2018 that the "Common Cause complaint is baseless," the Department of Justice investigated and in August Cohen pleaded guilty to two campaign finance crimes (among other crimes). |
| While entering his guilty plea, Cohen stated under oath that the payments to McDougal and Daniels were made "in coordination with, and at the direction of" then-candidate Trump "for the principal purpose of influencing the election " — directly implicating Trump in the commission of campaign finance crimes. |
| On Wednesday, in his testimony before the House Oversight Committee, Cohen for the first time provided details to the American people of precisely how Trump directed and coordinated these hush payments in violation of federal law. Cohen also identified a witness to Trump's seemingly illegal actions. |
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| Cohen testified, for example, that after each of his conversations with Stormy Daniels' lawyer at the time before the hush payment, he went "straight into Mr. Trump's office" to "discuss the issue with him." Cohen explained that when it was ultimately determined "days before the election that Mr. Trump was going to pay the $130,000" to Daniels, with Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg in the room, Trump directed Cohen and Weisselberg to "figure out how to do it." |
| Cohen also offered important details about the electoral purpose of the payment to Daniels — this is what makes the payment a campaign finance crime. Cohen was asked whether he was concerned that the Daniels story might be in the news right after the "Access Hollywood" story, in terms of impact on the election. Cohen replied, "I was concerned about it, but more importantly, Mr. Trump was concerned about it ." Specifically, Trump was concerned about the effect the Daniels story would have on how women were seeing him. |
| When asked about Trump's level of knowledge about the hush payments, Cohen explained that Trump "knew about everything," and that "everything had to go through Mr. Trump, and it had to be approved by Mr. Trump." |
| In short, Cohen's testimony on Wednesday, if true, confirmed what we have long suspected: The president orchestrated hush payments in violation of campaign finance laws. Cohen also revealed that Trump Organization CFO Weisselberg witnessed Trump's illegal activities and could back up Cohen's claims. |
| All of this spells trouble for Trump, and provides a ray of hope that he may yet be held accountable for any crimes he committed on his way to the White House. Even if the DOJ is unwilling to prosecute a sitting president, the statute of limitations on these crimes is five years, so a criminal indictment could be awaiting Trump if he leaves office in January 2021. |
| Paul Seamus Ryan is the vice president of policy and litigation for Common Cause. You can follow him on Twitter: @ThePaulSRyan. |
What others are saying |
| Michael D'Antonio, CNN.com : "Few people besides Michael Cohen seem better positioned to testify to the content of President Donald Trump's character. His children have, of course, known him longer. His wives — and other women — know him more intimately. But only Cohen worked across all aspects of the Trump business while also handling sordid issues, such as payoffs to silence women alleging they had sex with a married Trump (Trump denies this). Only Cohen would be entrusted in this way. Only he would be expected to keep it all secret. As an employee and confidant, Cohen exhibited the main trait Trump always said he valued: loyalty in the extreme." |
| Reps. Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows, USA TODAY : "Cohen and the Democrats may benefit from a chaotic committee hearing. The American people will not. Our committee is designed to ensure the efficiency, effectiveness and accountability of the federal government. It provides a check and balance on the role and power of Washington — and a voice to the people it serves. We should not (have given) up the committee's voice to an admitted liar like Michael Cohen." |
| Greg Sargent, The Washington Post: "At bottom, all this adds grist to the big picture here, which is that we already know Trump engaged in extensive wrongdoing and extremely serious misconduct on multiple fronts. We're just waiting at this point to learn the full details and whether — or, more optimistically, how — Trump will be held accountable for it." |
 | | Dirty deeds | | Dave Whamond/Canada/PoliticalCartoons.com | |
What our readers are saying |
| Michael Cohen's hearing is another Democratic witch hunt to get something against President Donald Trump so that Democrats can get him out of office — and so far they have nothing on him that they can prove. |
| — Rodney Parkhurst |
| Cohen allegedly has a paper trail that you can't deny, so get ready for that orange person to wear orange in the near future. Cohen has nothing to gain by testifying; he is already going to jail. |
| — Mary Porter |
| So what you're saying is that we watched an admitted liar testifying in front of a group of individuals who have a distant relationship with the truth? |
| — @lvaughan1128 |
| It's sad that while our president is negotiating denuclearization with North Korea, Democrats are having a liar and convicted felon testifying against Trump. |
| — Frank Wilson Harding |
| Republican Party leaders are just as guilty as Trump if they do nothing. They know what Cohen is saying is true. Shame on Republicans! |
| — Lori Dickey Curry |
| To join the conversations about topics on USA TODAY or provide feedback to this newsletter, email jrivera@usatoday.com, comment on Facebook, or use #tellusatoday on Twitter. |
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