Mueller brings Trump closer to prosecution
Special counsel has built case that shows lies put Trump in power
US President Donald Trump, protected from criminal charges while in office, is now facing the prospect of indictment when he becomes a private citizen.
Last Friday, federal prosecutors in New York effectively accused Mr Trump of a felony: Violating campaign finance laws with hush money payments to skew the 2016 election.
They detailed how Mr Trump's lawyer and self-described fixer Michael Cohen bought the silence of two women who said they had sexual liaisons with Mr Trump with his full knowledge.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller also filed documents showing Cohen has told them that Mr Trump was working on a real estate deal in Moscow potentially worth millions "well into the campaign" - shortly before he secured the Republican nomination for president.
Cohen was convicted of lying to Congress about these discussions with Mr Trump.
The American people now know Cohen "acted in coordination with and at the direction of Individual-1" - the President - in the illegal payments.
Cohen was in "close and regular contact" with the White House and Mr Trump's lawyers when he lied to Congress under oath about the Moscow project.
The Moscow project was "a lucrative business opportunity that sought, and likely required, the assistance of the Russian government", Mr Mueller's prosecutors wrote. The negotiations "occurred at a time of sustained efforts by the Russian government to interfere with the US presidential election".
Mr Mueller and his fellow prosecutors have built a clear and convincing case that lies - lies that constitute crimes - helped put Mr Trump in power.
That case, along with Mr Mueller's investigation of obstruction of justice by the President, may help put Citizen Trump in jeopardy of prosecution for conspiracy to defraud the US.
Mr Mueller has proven that Cohen, with former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, broke the law by lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Congress about their contacts with Russians and people with ties to Russian intelligence.
If they lied at the direction of Mr Trump, the special counsel will find out. These lies have a common denominator. Each shows the hand of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his spy service.
In 2016, Russians approached Mr Donald Trump Jr and Mr Trump's senior adviser Jared Kushner - offering illegally obtained campaign dirt for the son and an illicit intelligence backchannel to Moscow for the son-in-law.
These were classic intelligence approaches testing targets to see if they will bite. They did. Did they call the FBI? No.
They appear to have misled members of Congress about it, under penalty of perjury. This means members of Mr Trump's family could be in legal peril.
He denies everything.
"Totally clears the president. Thank you," he tweeted as the new accusations were unsealed.
That was another false statement from a leader who, according to the Washington Post, has misled the American people more than 6,400 times in office, and continually and viciously attacks the special counsel, the FBI and the Justice Department.
These attacks constitute a clear and present danger he poses to the rule of law. The question now is whether US institutions like Congress, the courts and the criminal justice system can constrain him, and, if it comes to that, convict him for his assaults against the political and legal system. - REUTERS
The writer has won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for reporting and writing on American intelligence agencies.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
