Rachel Maddow explained on Wednesday that while Michael Cohen may have pleaded guilty on Tuesday, he still isn’t finished doing legal damage to Donald Trump.
The MSNBC host explained that today’s news that Cohen was issued a subpoena as part of a probe into the Trump Foundation could spell more trouble not just for the president but for his children.
Maddow explained how eager Cohen was to respond to the subpoena and said the news “could end up being a very serious matter for not just Trump’s charity and the president himself but also for his three eldest children.”
She added that he wouldn’t be able to pardon them either, given the fact that it’s a lawsuit at the state level.
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Video:
Rachel Maddow explains how Michael Cohen isn’t done damaging Trump. #ctl #p2 #maddow pic.twitter.com/dK21SyvetE
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) August 23, 2018
Maddow said:
Michael Cohen pled guilty to eight felonies yesterday. He’s out on bail today. And that thing that started yesterday at almost exactly the same moment that Trump’s campaign chairman was being convicted of eight felonies. Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen pleads guilty to eight felonies and he personally implicates the president in the criminal behavior to which he himself is pleading guilty, that all started yesterday, but Michael Cohen’s still out on bail and so apparently it’s still unfolding today. Again, in this lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general, that case is brought against Trump’s foundation, Trump himself, and Ivanka, Don Jr. and Eric Trump. They are all named explicitly in that case. In the lawsuit, Barbara Underwood accuses Ivanka, Don Jr. and Eric of, quote, abdicating all responsibility for ensuring that the foundation’s assets were used in compliance with the law. If that case is gonna become a criminal matter, and that’s what in process here, if it’s gonna be a criminal case and not just a civil lawsuit by the state of New York, that could end up being a very serious matter for not just Trump’s charity and the president himself but also for his three eldest children. We should also note because it’s a state’s case, there won’t be a way to pardon people out of jeopardy in that case. You can only pardon someone if you’re president for federal crimes.
The Trump crime family is crumblingÂ
From countless angles, Trump is surrounded by legal trouble. It’s no longer just possible Russian conspiracy or obstruction of justice. Yesterday, it was federal crimes related to campaign finance laws.
And in the coming weeks, as Maddow pointed out on Wednesday, Trump could be on the hook for tax law violations related to his phony charitable foundation, which is essentially a slush fund for “persistently illegal conduct.”
The fact that Michael Cohen now appears eager and willing to bring his former boss down with him only makes matters worse for the president.
When all is said and done, this president and his crime family will likely regret ever stepping foot into the political arena.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
