Donald Trump is now officially an alleged criminal. Here’s what happens next.
“President” Donald Trump had a Twitter meltdown early this morning, ranting about the Trump-Russia investigation and some of the members of Robert Mueller’s team, along with his usual screeds. Perhaps now that the Michael Cohen sentencing memo has been published, we now get a better sense of why.
On page 11, the sentencing memo discussing the purchase of rights to two stories involving Individual-1 (three guesses of who in the world might be that unnamed person, but it rhymes with dump or hump), the prosecutors write: “In particular, and as Cohen himself has now admitted, with respect to both payments, he acted in coordination with and at the direction of Individual-1. (PSR ¶¶ 41, 45). As a result of Cohen’s actions, neither woman spoke to the press prior to the election. (PSR ¶ 51).”
Make no mistake about it, this language is very clear – our “president” is an unindicted co-conspirator. This will raise the question once again of whether a sitting president can be indicted. While the Justice Department has guidance on the topic suggesting that it cannot be done, there is no direct precedent on that point. In dicta in U.S. v. Nixon, Chief Justice Warren Burger made some statements about the possibility that a president could be indicted, but it has not been ruled upon.
We can expect Trump to either be silent this weekend as he considers his predicament, a co-conspirator in federal crimes, or he might go on another tweet binge. In the meantime, Cohen faces substantial prison time for his lack of full cooperation with the Southern District of New York and the seriousness of his crimes.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.