On Tuesday, a set of jaw-dropping legal developments turned up the heat on President Trump.

Former personal lawyer and known fixer for Trump, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations regarding the payment of two women who said they had a sexual relationship with the president.

Also on Tuesday, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was found guilty on eight counts of financial crimes. Jurors were unable to reach a verdict on 10 other charges, and the judge declared a mistrial.

We covered these rulings in-depth Wednesday. You can hear those conversations here and here.

One of the best-sourced reporters covering the Trump administration, Maggie Haberman, described the White House’s mood this way:

The president responded to Michael Cohen’s admissions on Twitter.

But Trump’s tone was different when he touched on Paul Manafort.

Conditions have looked bad for the president before.

Just last month, there was the Helsinki news conference. His zero-tolerance policy of separating families at the border sparked widespread outrage. At the beginning of his presidency, he accused President Obama of wiretapping him with no discernible evidence to corroborate the claims. And when Trump was still a candidate, we heard the infamous tape of him talking about grabbing women’s genitalia.

But now that Cohen has admitted that the president ordered him to break campaign finance laws, are things different? Is impeachment of the president on the table? What about other political and legal consequences? Or, is all of this distracting from the fact that Trump is exactly the president his voter base hoped for?

*For this show, we’re opening the phones and want to hear from you. 855-236-1212.

*Produced by Jonquilyn Hill. Text by Gabrielle Healy*.

GUESTS

Jeffrey Rosen, President and CEO, The National Constitution Center; professor at The George Washington University Law School; author of “William Howard Taft” and “Louis D. Brandeis: American Prophet” @RosenJeffrey

Michael Isikoff, Chief investigative correspondent, Yahoo News; co-author, “Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump;” @Isikoff

Rachel Bovard, Senior director of policy, Conservative Partnership Institute; former legislative director, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY); former director of policy services, The Heritage Foundation; @rachelbovard

For more, visit https://the1a.org.

© 2018 WAMU 88.5 – American University Radio.

Copyright 2018 WAMU 88.5. To see more, visit WAMU 88.5.

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