Listen to “Mueller, Cohen, and Trump: Where Are We and What’s Next?” on Spreaker.
On Friday, the office of special counsel Robert Mueller released memos which shed more light on guilty pleas from President Trump’s private attorney, Michael Cohen.
Among other confessions, Cohen is pleading guilty to campaign finance violations. Those violations are assumed to be hush money payments to adult film performer Stephanie Clifford (known professionally as Stormy Daniels) and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Those payments were deemed illegal because Cohen’s money was deemed an in-kind contribution to the Trump campaign. While candidates can spend as much as they want on a campaign, their supporters cannot. And the memos seem to suggest that Cohen accuses of Trump directing the payments in violation of federal campaign laws.
Former federal prosecutor Andrew C. McCarthy made headlines with a FoxNews.com column suggesting it is likely that Trump will face campaign finance charges after he leaves office.
And all this leads to several questions:
How strong is Trump’s assertion that the payments were private transactions and not a violation of the law?
Why do some people accused of campaign finance violations wind up in prison for years while others just get a fine?
Should we be surprised that Democrats are now talking about impeachment even though we knew about Cohen’s allegations before the midterm elections, when Democrats insisted they would not be gung-ho for impeachment if given the majority again?
There are still no charges against Americans related to alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 elections. Would we have seen something by now if Mueller had found evidence of such a conspiracy?
Listen to the full podcast to hear Andy McCarthy’s insight on these and other critical questions.
