President Trump is the meat in the Cohen-Manafort legal sandwich. The president got slapped between a Cohen plea bargain and Manafort criminal convictions — both cases the result of sandwich maker Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russia meddling in the 2016 presidential election — but neither case dealing directly with Russian interference in the election.
Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis said his client “has knowledge on certain subjects that should be of interest to the special counsel.” He went on to add that Cohen “is now liberated to tell the truth, everything about Donald Trump that he knows.”
Davis said Cohen had information about “the obvious possibility of a conspiracy to collude and corrupt the American democracy system in the 2016 election, which the Trump tower meeting was all about.”
The sandwich is a New York deli triple decker special! It was slapped together in minutes. The Cohen bargain and Manafort convictions were handed down within minutes of each other. There are three juicy legal layers. Indictment and prosecution of the president while he is still in office, indictment and prosecution after Trump leaves office, or impeachment.
It’s a sandwich the Washington political elite want to gobble up, regurgitate and spit out. Trump supporters prefer to see an open-face melted-cheese on white bread sandwich, without any of the meaty legal choices.
The Democrats love the sandwich. They think it is delicious and topped with “sleazy-corruption” dressing that will throw up a “Blue Wave” of democratic wins in the midterm elections. That will allow them to bring impeachment proceedings against the president. The Republicans are divided because the Cohen-Manafort sandwich has no Russian dressing. Getting the right message to voters will be a challenge, but can be a rallying cry to get out the Red vote to stop impeachment.
The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has opined that sitting presidents are not subject to criminal prosecution. The Supreme Court has never addressed the question of whether sitting presidents can be prosecuted. So unless the Justice Department decides to prosecute the president after it receives the Special Counsel’s report, which is doubtful — and that assumes there was collusion between the Donald’s campaign and Russia — that leaves prosecution after the president leaves office or impeachment.
The U.S. attorney’s office must investigate any federal crimes brought to its attention, regardless of whether the crime has anything to do with Russia. An additional juicy-meaty-legal layer to the Legal Special sandwich. Hence the immunity from prosecution deals cut by the New York U.S. attorney with Trump Organization CFO and the owner of the National Enquirer, in exchange for evidence of any criminal behavior by Trump, the Trump Organization, or Trump charity. It is this juicy-meaty layer that threatens the worst, possible killer, heartburn for the president.
Cohen confessed under oath in open court that he was directed by Trump to pay hush money to two women — acts that are criminal felonies. His confession to the criminal violations of campaign finance law has highlighted the high bar for criminal prosecutions that require a prosecutor to show that a person willfully and knowingly violated the law. Time will tell if Trump knew and willfully violated the law.
Campaign finance laws and how the Federal Election Commission is collegially controlled by career politicians in Congress, is a subject I wrote about in Custom Maid Spin for New World Disorder. In a chapter titled Outlaw Self-Subsidizing Career Politicians and Lawyers, I wrote:
The biggest glitch in enforcing campaign contribution laws
is the Federal Election Commission set up to oversee and
regulate campaign financing. It is a commission that puts
protecting the interests of the Democratic and Republican
parties ahead of policing election laws or guarding public
confidence in the integrity of campaigns and elections.
Illegal or questionable campaign contributions, the payments made to two women who claim they had an affair with the Donald, as well as any collusion with Russia or obstruction charges, if any, can only be pursued civilly or criminally after the president leaves office in 2019 or 2025.
That leaves impeachment. Lawyers prepare a “road map” of evidence of criminal behavior and send it to the House Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over impeachment, to prepare and present articles of impeachment to the House of Representatives to vote on.
To impeach a president, the Constitution requires a bare majority of the House of Representatives. This can happen if the Democrats win the House in the midterm elections. But the Constitution also requires a two-thirds majority of the Senate for the president to be removed from office. It is doubtful that a “Blue Wave” will get a super majority in the Senate.
In other words, Trump, like his predecessors Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, will continue governing even if impeached by the House, as long as the Senate vote is one vote short of the super majority.
President Trump’s future will not be settled in the courts legally any time soon, notwithstanding his over-sized legal special. His immediate future will be settled politically — the November 2018 midterm elections or 2020 presidential election should he decide to run.
Stay tuned for more of the top-rated Trump Political Reality Show, especially the legal episodes — and let’s get out the vote — to make sure the right sandwich is served!