Rachel Maddow: Michael Cohen’s Testimony Makes Impeachment Or Criminal Charges More Likely

Rachel Maddow laid out two clear paths forward after Michael Cohen’s dramatic testimony before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday – and both options are bad for Donald Trump.

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Given the damning criminal evidence that Cohen presented to the committee, Maddow said there are two potential outcomes for the president: impeachment or criminal charges.

“[Impeachment is] the clear straightforward constitutional path here,” the MSNBC host explained. “But the other path, the other perhaps parallel, perhaps intersecting path, is the path of the criminal law.”

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Maddow said:

The straightforward way a congressional committee is supposed to handle allegations like this, information like this, is that they’re supposed to investigate it themselves. And if the allegations are substantiated, and if members Congress believe it’s warranted, that information is supposed to become the basis for possible impeachment proceedings in the House, which could eventually lead to a trial in the Senate, which could eventually lead to a president being removed from office. That’s the clear straightforward constitutional path here. But the other path, the other perhaps parallel, perhaps intersecting path, is the path of the criminal law. And one of the things about living through this Trump era is that it has never been fully clear to us the American people throughout the scandals of this presidency just how susceptible this sitting president might be to potential prosecution himself, Not only in Congress and a potential impeachment proceeding, but potentially in a court of law as well.

Michael Cohen’s testimony

The night before Michael Cohen’s testimony, Rachel Maddow predicted that the hearing had the potential to end Trump’s presidency.

After Cohen presented the committee with damning evidence that implicates the president in multiple crimes, that outcome became more likely on Wednesday.

With Democratic-led committees now firing on all cylinders and the Southern District of New York continuing to investigate Trump, the likelihood of both impeachment and potential criminal charges continues to go up.

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Sean Colarossi

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.