Nancy Pelosi says Trump impeachment ‘not a priority’ for Democrats

The guilty plea of longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort’s conviction is putting new pressure on Democratic leaders to rally an impeachment drive.

Cohen’s guilty plea in a federal court in New York to violating campaign finance law at the ‘direction’ of an unnamed individual – Trump – put the Constitution’s political remedy for ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ squarely on the table for political discussion.

But House minority leader Nancy Pelosi cautioned Wednesday against any rush to impeach based on the current state of the Mueller probe. 

‘Impeachment has to spring from something else,’ she said, hours after Cohen pleaded guilty to eight charges and a Virginia jury found Manafort guilty of eight charges.

Pelosi, who would stand for speaker if Democrats retake the House, would oversee any impeachment that gets put forward. 

But it was the White House elevated the issue Wednesday when press secretary Sarah Sanders teed off on on Democrats, faulting them for a ‘sad attempt’ at ‘cheap political stunts.’     

‘The idea of an impeachment is frankly a sad attempt by Democrats,’ she told reporters when asked about the topic. ‘It’s the only message they seem to have going into the midterms and I think it’s another great reminder of why Americans should support other like-minded candidates like the president that are actually focused on continuing to grow the economy,’ she said.

She faulted Democrats, who have seen their fortunes improve for the 23-seat gain they would need to capture the House, as having an agenda of ‘nothing more than attacking the president and looking at cheap political stunts.’

Her long answer contrasted sharply with the terse response she repeated to all questions about Stormy Daniels and whether Trump had broken campaign finance laws, as Cohen admitted he did.

‘It’s not a priority on the agenda going forward unless something else comes forward,’ House minority leader Nancy Pelosi said of impeachment

The Michael Cohen plea immediately ignited questions about impeachment. Justice Department rules state that a sitting president cannot be indicted

‘He did nothing wrong. There are no charges against him and we’ve commented on this extensively,’ said Sanders.

In the case of Cohen, campaign finance charges he pleaded guilty to involved ‘coordinating’ with another individual – Trump – to affect the outcome of the 2016 election. 

That left open the possibility of Trump himself being charged with a crime – though Justice Department guidelines state that a sitting president can’t get indicted.  

‘If and when the information emerges about that, we’ll see,’ said Pelosi. ‘It’s not a priority on the agenda going forward unless something else comes forward,’ she added.

Here is our guide to how the next few months will play out.  

WILL DEMOCRATS PUSH FOR IMPEACHMENT? 

Former Virginia Republican Rep. Tom Davis, asked by DailyMail.com com whether it now makes sense for Democrats to start talking about impeachment, responded: ”Not yet. It certainly lays a predicate.’

Democrats ‘have to ask themselves if this is 1998, where Republicans overplayed impeachment and lost seats, or 1974, where anger over Nixon and the pardon led to huge gains,’ said Davis, who previously ran the GOP House campaign arm and now runs government affairs at Deloitte.

‘The ominous weeks will tell, but Nancy Pelosi navigated 2006 successfully to lead to a House turnover and she knows if and when to pull the trigger. There is still a lot to play out and it’s August. Remember Access Hollywood?’ he concluded.

Tom Steyer, co-founder of NextGen Climate Action Committee, cut a new video urging people to join his drive for impeachment following the stunning courtroom developments 

 Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said the stunning courtroom developments didn’t change his view either. He chairs the Senate Democratic campaign arm, and while serving in the House chaired the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. 

‘It does not change my position,’ he told CNN. ‘I think we should allow the Mueller investigation to play out. Look, just yesterday we had the conviction of Paul Manafort on eight counts. We had yesterday, of course, what happened in the Michael Cohen plea deal. We need to allow the Mueller investigation to take its course.’

Then, rather than talk about impeachment – something that is more often brought up by elected Republicans – Van Hollen switched subjects and tried to put pressure on Trump to testify before Robert Mueller’s investigators.

‘I do think it is more incumbent than ever for the president to step up and do what he said he wanted to do for months and months, which is tell his side of the story, but tell it under oath, tell it the same way Michael Cohen did, under penalty of perjury. Here they are trying to undermine Michael Cohen, but he swore to this under penalty of perjury. The president is refusing to do that,’ Van Hollen said.

With the elections less than three months away, the intersecting court dockets, political calendar, an investigative timetable will all combine to keep questions of law, justice, payoffs, and alleged crimes in the news.

WILL TRUMP PARDON MANAFORT AS LOBBYIST IS TRIED AGAIN? 

Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for Donald Trump, was convicted on eight counts Tuesday

Manafort’s second trial, in the District of Columbia, is set to begin next month, on Sept. 17. Prosecutors who handled his Virginia trial, in which the jury couldn’t reach a verdict on 10 counts, have days to decide whether to retry him on those counts.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 6.

A judge set Michael Cohen’s sentencing hearing for December 12. 

There is nothing approximating a schedule for when or if Trump might issue pardons. White House press secretary Sanders said there has been no discussion of the matter. But Trump tweeted on Wednesday just a day after a jury convicted his former campaign chair on eight counts that he was a ‘brave man.’

Under normal circumstances, the office of the pardon attorney in the Justice Department can spend months or years gathering information. But Trump in previous pardons has gone outside of the office. 

He could issue a pardon at any time, either before or after a conviction or sentencing. But in doing so, he could be crossing a red line with Republicans in Congress, who have warned him it would be a bad idea. Democrats have said a Manafort pardon could play into obstruction of justice charges.

WHAT HAPPENS IF THERE IS A RED WAVE? 

If Democrats take take the House in November – something that would fit historical patterns but is by no means certain thanks in part to redistricting that favors Republicans – they wouldn’t get the gavel until January. 

Then, once they organize committees, a new majority would be able to convene investigatory hearings on an array of matters, from Cohen to Trump’s business, his pardons, or any other issues they want to probe.

A restless member could also try to bring an impeachment motion to the floor of the House to get a privileged vote.

If an impeachment resolution made it out of the House Judiciary Committee, where Rep. Jerold Nadler of New York was an ardent opponent of Bill Clinton’s impeachment, it would then go to the Senate for the ‘trial’ phase. 

In a best-case scenario Democrats are hoping to take the Senate with a narrow majority, so they would need Republican support to get the super-majority to convict the president in an impeachment trial if it ever got that far.

Trump has already been raising money for his own reelection in 2020. 

‘In the end, it may well come down to who Democrats choose to nominate and how the economy is performing in 2020, but in the meantime, President Trump is doing little to help his own case,’ wrote political analyst Charlie Cook, noting Trump’s focus on his base rather than more nuanced outreach.

Democats are facing pressure from within their own ranks and from outside to do more on impeachment.

Billionaire hedge funder and environmental activist Tom Steyer cut a new TV add on impeachment within hours of the Cohen and Manafort news, asCNBC reported. The ad is expected to be part of a $1 million ad buy, and is parter of his broader ‘Need to Impeach’ effort.

Steyer tweeted: ‘Our president surrounds himself with criminals. He hired criminals to work for him, he hired criminals to run his campaign, and he hired criminals to serve in his administration. How much more corruption do we need to see? Join us at http://needtoimpeach.com.’ 

Cohen’s ‘admission of guilt is further proof that Donald Trump has long been intimately engaged with deceitful, lawless, and corrupt associates,’ Steyer said in a statement. 

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) has been among those calling for Trump’s impeachment, and Trump has tried to turn her into a punchline at his rallies.

‘Nancy Pelosi with Maxine waters running the House,’ Trump said at a rally Tuesday night in West Virginia. He said the pair were ‘not in favor of West Virginia.’

COULD CONSERVATIVES BACK IMPEACHMENT TOO? 

New York Times columnist Bret Stephens called for Trump’s impeachment Tuesday. Democratic leaders face pressure from inside and outside their caucus to impeach

 New York Times Opinion columnist Bret Stephens tweeted Tuesday: ‘I’ve been skeptical about the wisdom and merit of impeachment. Cohen’s guilty plea changes that. The president is clearly guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. He should resign his office or be impeached and removed from office.

There are no indications that any senior Republican leader in the House intends to pursue further investigation of Trump or Cohen following the guilty plea. 

If Democrats were to take the House, where they need a 23-seat gain, leaders would face immediate pressure to allow an impeachment drive pushed by rank-and-file members to go forward.              

Cohen lawyer Lanny Davis said Trump is guilty of the same campaign violation Cohen pleaded guilty to, and that he committed additional crimes.

‘Yes, I do believe that based on the law of conspiracy,’ Davis told NBC’s ‘Today’ show. 

‘There is no question having plead to a felony yesterday and saying that Mr. Trump directed him to do what he did, that Mr. Trump would be guilty of the same crime,’ he added.

Indictment or impeachment: What happens to Trump next?

By Chris Pleasance 

President Trump appeared in peril as Paul Manafort was found guilty and Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to charges leveled as part of Robert Mueller’s election meddling probe.

So what comes next for Donald Trump himself?

Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, insists Trump is implicated in a crime because he ordered Cohen to make hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal before the 2016 election.

Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked the Russian election meddling probe as a ‘rigged witch hunt’, but on Tuesday it delivered two guilty parties

But the prevailing legal opinion is that Trump will not face criminal prosecution while in office, though there is nothing in the Constitution that strictly forbids it.

The text of Article 2, Section 4, and Article 1, Second 3, when taken together  imply that a president must be impeached and convicted by the Senate before he can be prosecuted, but does not outright say it.

Article 2, Section 4, makes clear what the impeachment power is.  

‘The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors,’ it says. 

Article 1, Second 3, sets out the existence of the Senate and says: The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. 

‘When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

‘Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.’ 

That has led to legal debate in the past and the question even ended up before the Supreme Court in 1974 during the Watergate scandal, but a ruling was never made.

Justice Department guidelines say that a sitting President shouldn’t be charged with a crime while in office, but that could be subject to a challenge.

Even if Trump cannot be indicted on criminal charges, he could still be impeached for ‘treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors’.

Lanny David (left), the attorney for Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen (right), argues that Trump is implicated in the crime – but it is unlikely a sitting president would be indicted on criminal charges

Impeachment requires a majority in the House to pass articles of impeachment against the president. 

The House Judiciary Committee then prosecutes the president in front of the Senate, with the Chief Justice presiding. 

There needs to be a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate to convict.

As things stand the Republicans control both houses, so it is highly unlikely that Trump will face impeachment so long as the status quo holds.

However, the Democrats are hoping that mid-term elections in November will hand control of both houses back to them, which would put Trump in trouble.

As one Republican lawyer told Politico, Cohen’s allegations that Trump forced him to make payments provides the perfect fodder for impeachment.

‘It’s the only excuse they’ll need. And believe me, they won’t need much of an excuse,’ he said.

On Tuesday, Trump urged people to vote Republican in the elections, warning that voting Democrat would lead to ‘open borders and crime’.

Trump could be impeached, though that is unlikely to happen unless the November mid-terms hand control of the House and Senate back to the Democrats

ROBERT MUELLER’S PROBE SO FAR: SEVEN CONVICTIONS – INCLUDING THREE TOP TRUMP AIDES, A JAILED ATTORNEY AND 25 RUSSIANS ACCUSED

GUILTY: MICHAEL FLYNN 

Pleaded guilty to making false statements in December 2017. Awaiting sentence

Flynn was President Trump’s former National Security Advisor and Robert Mueller’s most senior scalp to date. He previously served when he was a three star general as President Obama’s director of the Defense Intelligence Agency but was fired. 

He admitted to lying to special counsel investigators about his conversations with a Russian ambassador in December 2016. He has agreed to cooperate with the special counsel investigation.

GUILTY: MICHAEL COHEN

Pleaded guilty to eight counts including fraud and two campaign finance violations in August 2018. Awaiting sentence

Cohen was Trump’s longtime personal attorney, starting working for him and the Trump Organization in 2007. He is the longest-serving member of Trump’s inner circle to be implicated by Mueller. Cohen professed unswerving devotion to Trump – and organized payments to silence two women who alleged they had sex with the-then candidate: porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal.He admitted that payments to both women were felony campaign finance violations – and admitted that he acted at the ‘direction’ of ‘Candidate-1’: Donald Trump.

He also admitted tax fraud by lying about his income from loans he made, money from  taxi medallions he owned, and other sources of income, at a cost to the Treasury of $1.3 million.

GUILTY: PAUL MANAFORT

Found guilty of eight charges of bank and tax fraud in August 2018. Awaiting sentence and second trial

Manafort worked for Trump’s campaign from March 2016 and chaired it from June to August 2016, overseeing Trump being adopted as Republican candidate at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. He is the most senior campaign official to be implicated by Mueller. Manafort was one of Washington D.C.’s longest-term and most influential lobbyists but in 2015, his money dried up and the next year he turned to Trump for help, offering to be his campaign chairman for free – in the hope of making more money afterwards. But Mueller unwound his previous finances and discovered years of tax and bank fraud as he coined in cash from pro-Russia political parties and oligarchs in Ukraine.

Manafort pleaded not guilty to 18 charges of tax and bank fraud but was convicted of eight counts. The jury was deadlocked on the other 10 charges. A second trial on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent is due in September.  

GUILTY: RICK GATES 

Pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the United States and making false statements in February 2018. Awaiting sentence

Gates was Manafort’s former deputy at political consulting firm DMP International. He admitted to conspiring to defraud the U.S. government on financial activity, and to lying to investigators about a meeting Manafort had with a member of congress in 2013. As a result of his guilty plea and promise of cooperation, prosecutors vacated charges against Gates on bank fraud, bank fraud conspiracy, failure to disclose foreign bank accounts, filing false tax returns, helping prepare false tax filings, and falsely amending tax returns.

GUILTY: GEORGE PAPADOPOLOUS

Pleaded guilty to making false statements in October 2017. Awaiting sentence

Papadopoulos was a member of Donald Trump’s campaign foreign policy advisory committee. He admitted to lying to special counsel investigators about his contacts with London professor Josef Mifsud and Ivan Timofeev, the director of a Russian government-funded think tank. 

He has agreed to cooperate with the special counsel investigation.

GUILTY: RICHARD PINEDO

Pleaded guilty to identity fraud in February 2018. Awaiting sentence

Pinedo is a 28-year-old computer specialist from Santa Paula, California. He admitted to selling bank account numbers to Russian nationals over the internet that he had obtained using stolen identities. 

He has agreed to cooperate with the special counsel investigation.

GUILTY AND JAILED: ALEX VAN DER ZWAAN

Pleaded guilty to making false statements in February 2018. He served a 30-day prison sentence earlier this year and was deported to the Netherlands upon his release.

Van der Zwaan is a Dutch attorney for Skadden Arps who worked on a Ukrainian political analysis report for Paul Manafort in 2012. 

He admitted to lying to special counsel investigators about when he last spoke with Rick Gates and Konstantin Kilimnik.

CHARGED: KONSTANTIN KILIMNIK

Indicted for obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice. 

Kilimnik is a former employee of Manafort’s political consulting firm and helped him with lobbying work in Ukraine. He is accused of witness tampering, after he allegedly contacted individuals who had worked with Manafort to remind them that Manafort only performed lobbying work for them outside of the U.S.

He has been linked to  Russian intelligence and is currently thought to be in Russia – effectively beyond the reach of extradition by Mueller’s team.

INDICTED: THE RUSSIANS 

Twenty-five Russian nationals and three Russian entities have been indicted for conspiracy to defraud the United States. 

Two of these Russian nationals were also indicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 11 were indicted for conspiracy to launder money. Fifteen of them were also indicted for identity fraud. 

Vladimir Putin has ridiculed the charges. Russia effectively bars extradition of its nationals. The only prospect Mueller has of bringing any in front of a U.S. jury is if Interpol has their names on an international stop list – which is not made public – and they set foot in a territory which extradites to the U.S. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk