A Democrat about to take power in the House of Representatives warned that it would be an 'impeachable offense' if President Donald Trump directed illegal payments to two women during his campaign.
'Certainly they're impeachable offenses. Even though they were committed before the president became president, they were committed in the service of fraudulently obtaining the office,' said Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler on CNN's 'State of the Union.'
He added that the president was the 'center of a massive fraud' against the American people.
Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler said if President Trump directed the illegal payments to two women during his campaign - that would be an impeachable offense
But Nadler cautioned the House of Representatives shouldn't 'necessarily launch an impeachment' against President Donald Trump 'because he committed an impeachable offense'
'These indictments and filings show is that the president was at the center of a massive fraud - several massive frauds against the American people,' Nadler, who will chair the House Judiciary Committee next year, noted.
But he said the House of Representatives shouldn't 'necessarily launch an impeachment against the president because he committed an impeachable offense.'
'There are several things you have to look at. One, were there impeachable offenses committed? How many? And secondly, how important were they? Did they rise to the gravity where you should undertake an impeachment?' he said.
'An impeachment is an attempt to in effect overturn or change the result of an election,' Nadler added. 'You should do it only for very serious situations.'
He was responding to revelations in two sentencing memos that came out on Friday tied to cases involving Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen.
The New York case tells a story of Cohen working 'in coordination with and at the direction of' Donald Trump – by his own admission – to arrange for the National Enquirer to buy the rights to the two women's stories and 'kill' them, preventing media exposure of their claims.
David Pecker, a longtime Trump friend who was CEO of the National Enquirer's parent company, got an immunity deal from Mueller to divulge his part in the plot.
Cohen 'coordinated his actions with one or more members of the campaign,' according to the memo, 'including through meetings and phone calls, about the fact, nature, and timing of the payments.'
And as a result, 'neither woman spoke to the press prior to the election.'
Nadler reference the payments to the two women - porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal - but also the Trump Organization's attempt to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
'The fact of the matter is that what we see from these indictments and charging statements is a much broader conspiracy against the American people, involving these payments, involving an attempt to influence the campaign improperly, with improper payments involving the Russians, trying to influence the campaign, involving the president lying for an entire year about his ongoing business arrangements - business dealings with the Russians, involving obstruction of justice,' Nadler said.
'The president created his own swamp and brought it to the White House,' he noted.
In Robert Mueller's case, filed just last month, the special counsel alleges that Cohen has admitted lying about his efforts and timing on the Trump Tower Moscow plan, and alleges that he briefed Trump about the project's status in 2016.
Cohen told investigators that the entire project was scrapped before the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary inJanuary 2016. In fact, however, negotiations related to the proposal were going on through the time of the July Republican National Convention.
Mueller charged Cohen with a felony for lying to his investigators, but said he was truthful in six other sessions where government lawyers plied him with questions.
Former Playboy model Karen McDougal (left) and porn actress Stormy Daniels (right) both claimed to have slept with Donald Trump in the past, but the government says Cohen coordinated with Trump to make sure the women were paid for their silence – in effect a pair of massive campaign contributions designed to save the election for Trump
Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen should spend between 51 and 63 months in federal prison, according to a prosecutor's memo
Mueller's seven-page memorandum says the former Trump fixer 'provided information about his own contacts with Russian interests during the campaign and discussions with others in the course of making those contacts.'
'Nothing in the constitution prohibits a president from being indicted,' Nadler said.
'All of these have to be looked at very seriously by the Congress, by the special counsel and by the Justice Department and to see what actions we should then take and what is clear also is that the Republican Congress absolutely tried to shield the president. The new Congress will not try to shield the president,' he noted.
Other Democrats wouldn't go as far as saying impeachment, but did the allegations are 'serious.'
'I'm not going to give the House advice on whether or not to proceed with impeachment,' said Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy on ABC's 'This Week.'
'I think it is important to get the full report from the special investigator. But let's be clear, we have reached a new level in the investigation. The special counsel is starting to show his cards, and these are very serious allegations. This is a president who is now named as an unindicted co-conspirator, the allegation as he committed at least two felonies to try to manipulate the 2016 election,' he added.
And Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said there's not enough public evidence at this point to impeach the president.
'I don't think that there's evidence yet available to the public where there would be, more or less, a consensus that this was an appropriate path,' he said, adding: 'My concern is that, if impeachment is moved forward on the evidence that we have now, at least a third of the country would think it was just political revenge and, and a coup against the president. That wouldn't serve us well at all. The best way to solve a problem like this, to me, is elections.'
'We may get there, but we are not there now,' he added.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York wrote that Cohen worked at the direction of President Donald Trump in 2016 to arrange payments to two women for the purpose of keeping their sexual affair allegations from becoming public before the election
Trump tweeted barely an hour after prosecutors filed their court statement about Cohen that it 'totally clears' him
Trump claimed the filings out on Friday vindicate him.
'Totally clears the President. Thank you!,' he tweeted.
And White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders - in a rare statement on the matter - dismissed the filings as nothing new.
'The government's filings in Mr. Cohen's case tell us nothing of value that wasn't already known,' she said in a statement. 'Mr. Cohen has repeatedly lied and as the prosecution has pointed out to the court, Mr. Cohen is no hero.'
Cohen arranged for a $130,000 payment to Daniels, which prosecutors say violated campaign finance law prohibitions against donations of more than $2,700 in a general election.
A $150,000 payment by American Media Inc. to silence McDougal was an illegal corporate donation to the Trump's campaign, prosecutors claim.
Both women claim affairs with Trump, which he has denied.
Prosecutors noted Cohen had implicated the president in the payments.
'Cohen himself has now admitted, with respect to both payments, he acted in coordination with and at the direction of Individual-1,' the prosecutors wrote.
'Individual-1' refers to Trump.
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/12/09/top-house-dem-warns-that-illegal-payments-to-women-are-impeachable-offenses-if-directed-by-trump/
Main photo article A Democrat about to take power in the House of Representatives warned that it would be an ‘impeachable offense’ if President Donald Trump directed illegal payments to two women during his campaign.
‘Certainly they’re impeachable offenses. Even though they were committed...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/12/09/15/7201852-6476647-image-a-20_1544370731633.jpg
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