Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort. (photo: Zuma Press, Inc./Alamy)
10 December 18
ederal
prosecutors released sentencing recommendations for two alleged
criminals who worked closely with Donald Trump: his lawyer Michael Cohen, and campaign manager Paul Manafort.
They are filled with damning details. But the most important passage by
far is this, about Trump’s fixer: “Cohen himself has now admitted, with
respect to both payments, he acted in coordination with and at the
direction of Individual-1.”
The payments in question, as the document
explains, concern a payoff to two women who claimed to have affairs
with Trump. The payments, according to prosecutors, were intended to
influence the campaign, and thereby constituted violations of campaign
finance law. They have not formally charged Trump with this crime — it
is a sentencing report for Cohen, not Trump — but this is the U.S.
Department of Justice calling Trump a criminal.
There is more. Under normal circumstances, the long
list of charges federal prosecutors cited against Michael Cohen would be
a political catastrophe for President Trump. One of the president’s
closest associates turns out to have allegedly committed a long string
of crimes, from tax evasion to making false statements to a financial
institution, that would besmirch the good name of the man who worked at
his side for years.
Of course Trump has no good name. But the fact that he
is being called a felon by the United States government is a historic
step. And it is likely the first of more to come.
Just as a recent sentencing report indicated that Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn is cooperating substantially, prosecutors wrote
today that Cohen is providing helpful information on other crimes.
Cohen reportedly gave the special counsel “useful information concerning
certain discrete Russia-related matters core to its investigation that
he obtained by virtue of his regular contact with Company executives
during them.” And this contact continued into 2018. Cohen was not locked
out and probably has access to some secrets.
The sentencing recommendation
for Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, contains very
little detail that isn’t redacted. It describes Manafort as having lied
repeatedly about his interactions with Konstantin Kilimnik, his business
partner and Russian intelligence asset, and with the Trump
administration. Trump has dismissed Manafort as a distant underling who
worked for him only briefly, but the filing states Manafort’s contact
with the administration continued into 2018. This does not prove
anything, but it suggests Manafort’s guilt implicated people other than
Manafort himself.
The special counsel sentencing recommendation for
Cohen also reveals that Russian contact with the Trump campaign began as
early as 2015, not the following spring.
And Russians promised
“political synergy” — which is essentially a synonym for campaign
collusion — and “synergy on a government level.” That means a quid pro
quo in which Russia would help Trump win the election and Trump, if
elected, would give Russia favorable policy. This is the heart of
Mueller’s very much ongoing investigation.
In the meantime, Trump’s own government has described him as a crook
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