Why You Don't Turn On Your Fixer

This is why you don't piss off your fixer.  Michael Cohen's testimony and evidence puts Donald Trump in a very precarious position now.

Sometimes commentary does not do the issue justice.  Here are a few of the most horrifying passages from his testimony.

"For the record: Individual #1 is President Donald J. Trump." - the individual implicated in Cohen's conviction.

On Mr. Trump's character:
"Mr. Trump is an enigma.  He is complicated, as am I.  He has both good and bad, as do we all. But the bad far outweighs the good, and since taking office, he has become the worst version of himself.  He is capable of behaving kindly, but he is not kind.  He is capable of committing acts of generosity, but he is not generous.  He is capable of being loyal, but he is fundamentally disloyal."

"Donald Trump is a man who ran for office to make his brand great, not to make our country great.  He had no desire or intention to lead this nation - only to market himself and to build his wealth and power.  Mr. Trump would often say, this campaign was going to be the 'greatest infomercial in political history.'"

On Trump falsifying a bone spur to keep him out of the Vietnam war:
"You think I'm stupid? I wasn't going to Vietnam."

On Trump's racism:
"While we were once driving through a struggling neighborhood in Chicago, he commented that only black people could live that way.  And he told me that black people would never vote for him because they were too stupid."

On Russia:
"I recalled Don Jr. leaning over to his father and speaking in a low voice, which I could clearly hear, and saying: 'The meeting is all set.'  I remember Mr. Trump saying, 'Ok good...let me know."

"Mr. Trump knew of and directed the Trump Moscow negotiations throughout the campaign and lied about it.  He lied about it because he never expected to win the election. He also lied about it because he stood to make hundreds of millions of dollars on the Moscow real estate project."

"Mr. Trump did not directly tell me to lie to Congress.  That's not how he operates.  In conversations we had during the campaign, at the same time I was actively negotiating in Russia for him, he would look me in the eye and tell me there's no business in Russia and then go out and lie to the American people by saying the same thing.

In a way, he was telling me to lie."

On other crimes committed for and perpetrated by Donald Trump:

• Concealment of records - "letters I wrote at Mr. Trump's direction that threatened his high school, colleges, and the College Board not to release his grades or SAT scores."
• Fraud via a charitable organization - "a copy of an article with Mr. Trump's handwriting on it that reported on the auction of a portrait of himself - he arranged for the bidder ahead of time and then reimbursed the bidder from the account of his non-profit charitable foundation, with the picture now hanging in one of his country;"
• Campaign Finance Fraud - "a copy of a check Mr. Trump wrote from his personal bank account - after he became president - to reimburse me for the hush money payments I made to cover up his affair with an adult film star and prevent damage to his campaign;"
• Tax Fraud - "It was my experience that Mr. Trump inflated his total assets when it served his purposes, such as trying to be listed among the wealthiest people in Forbes, and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes."

In summary,
"I'm ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr. Trump's illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience. 

I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is. 

He is a racist. 

He is a conman. 

He is a cheat."

And the saddest thing is, we know that for a large part of the population, this will make absolutely no difference.  We can pray that the courts feel otherwise.

It Begins

And so it begins.

Michael Cohen, President Trump's personal attorney and fixer plead guilty to several different counts including breaking campaign finance laws, multiple counts of tax evasion, and a single count of bank fraud.  In doing so, he implicated the president regarding the campaign finance violations.  Cohen told the judge that the payments to two women to keep them from speaking publicly of their affairs with the president during the 2016 election were made "in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office."  He further stated that this conduct was "for the principal purpose of influencing the election."

This is huge.  While Mr. Cohen is the latest in a string of people connected to the Trump campaign that have been convicted or plead guilty, he is the first to directly implicate the president.  Even Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort's conviction, which came hours after Mr. Cohen's plea, did not directly concern the president himself.  Manafort's conviction on several counts of financial fraud focused on Manafort's own personal financial actions.

Cohen makes it clear that the campaign finance violations were directed by the president.  This allegation was made under oath, under penalty of perjruy.  And it would seem he has the tapes to back up these allegations.

Perhaps the oddest thing to me to come from these cases, is Trump himself downplaying campaign finance violations.

Michael Cohen plead guilty to two counts of campaign finance violations that are not a crime. President Obama had a big campaign finance violation and it was easily settled!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2018

Trump is essentially trying to argue campaign finance violations are not a crime.  And while campaign finance violations can be both a criminal and civil violation, a knowing and deliberate violation of campaign finance laws is most definitely a crime.  It fulfills the "intent" requirement of a crime.  Further, a federal judge is not going to allow someone to plead guilty of something that is not a crime.

The violations that Trump mention for the Obama campaign did involve a big dollar amount, but from all evidence reflected a fairly low-level, benign paperwork error.  A mistake that was corrected by a civil fine. The fine was the among the largest ever levied against a presidential campaign according to the Federal Election Commission, but it was a reflection of the dollar amount involved in the campaign, not of intent.

Cohen's plea acknowledges knowing and deliberate campaign finance violations. An attempt to commit fraud.  That will always be a crime.  And if the president did indeed direct Cohen's actions, then he is involved in the crime as well.  Admittedly, this is not a huge crime in the scheme of federal crimes, but it is still fraud to sway the election and more than enough for "high crimes and misdemeanors."

So now we have the first sitting president since Richard Nixon accused of a crime.  Will Cohen be Trump's John Dean?

This is only the beginning.

Now, I don't say it often, but I do agree with President Trump on one thing.

If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2018

Cohen's attorney tried to portray Michael Cohen as a patriot who put country over his previous client, President Trump.  I have a large problem with that sentiment.  It would seem Cohen is the very type of lawyer that gives my profession a bad name.  Someone who goes along with the crime until it starts to implicate them personally.  If Mr. Cohen had convictions, those should have been raised before engaging in the violations.  Thankfully, he will likely soon be disbarred.   The New York State Bar would not let him continue to practice after his guilty plea.  And that will not be easily reversed.

He may start the process to bring down a president, but he's not the type of lawyer I want representing us.