Michael Cohen Wasn't Even the Biggest Bombshell for Trump Yesterday

WASHINGTON – The Michael Cohen turmoil is reaching the White House after President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer was given three years in prison for financial crimes and breaking laws before the 2016 election. And that wasn't the only shoe to drop yesterday.  

Just two hours after Cohen was sentenced, the next bombshell came when the parent company of the National Enquirer – AMI – cut a deal with prosecutors, admitting it tried to help Trump win.

Feds agreed not to prosecute if the head of AMI agreed to cooperate. They say the $150,000 paid to former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal and the $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels amount to illegal campaign contributions, which is a felony.

It all hinges on whether the president knew the payments were being made and if he did it to protect his campaign. In a similar case involving presidential candidate John Edwards, a jury did not find he violated campaign finance laws.

But Democrats like Sen. Richard Blumenthal (CT) are still pouncing, saying last night on CNN, "The term, co-conspirator, is beginning to fit Donald Trump like a well-tailored suit."

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) though played down the fallout, saying, "I don't know if it means a lot for the president. It means a lot in Michael Cohen's life. Anytime a former lawyer of yours goes to jail is probably not a good day, but I have yet to see any evidence coming from Mr. Cohen of collusion and that's what started the Mueller investigation to begin with."

Cohen is still working with prosecutors and is prepared to testify before Congress.

Wednesday he said, "I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds rather than listen to my own inner voice and my moral compass… My weakness can be characterized as a blind loyalty to Donald Trump."

Meanwhile, the special counsel's team says he has "provided consistent and credible information about core Russia-related issues under investigation" and could get more of his sentence reduced if he tells more.

So far, there's been a lot of silence from the White House.

But President Trump's attorney, Rudy Giuliani, did have this to say to Yahoo News: "Cohen is a completely dishonorable person… I've never heard of a lawyer that tape-recorded their client without the client's permission."

"The president's not a lawyer. The simple fact is that it's not a criminal violation of the campaign finance law," he continued.  

I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law. It is called “advice of counsel,” and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. That is why they get paid. Despite that many campaign finance lawyers have strongly......

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018

....stated that I did nothing wrong with respect to campaign finance laws, if they even apply, because this was not campaign finance. Cohen was guilty on many charges unrelated to me, but he plead to two campaign charges which were not criminal and of which he probably was not...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018

In another development, a federal judge ordered special counsel Robert Mueller to turn over documents related to the questioning of former national security adviser Michael Flynn after Flynn's legal team said the FBI pressured him not to bring a lawyer to an interview with agents at the White House.

Flynn later pled guilty to lying to the FBI in that interview. The judge who will sentence Flynn now wants to know more.

There's talk of impeachment but Trump says he is not concerned by it. In an interview with Reuters he said people would "revolt" if he was impeached and that it's "hard to impeach somebody who hasn't done anything wrong."