demo

not provided any, according to the plea.
All this end ran federal laws barring
campaign contributions of more than
$27,000 by an individual or any amount
by a corporation. Legal experts say that
if Trump had paid Cohen out of his own
bank account, it would not have been a
violation of campaign-inance law. “It’s
because he chose to use the corporate
cofers to reimburse Cohen that you
get this additional violation of federal
law by the Trump Organization, and
by extension Donald Trump himself,”
says Paul S. Ryan, vice president of
policy and litigation at Common
Cause, a nonpartisan organization that
iled complaints with the Department
of Justice and the Federal Election
Commission earlier this year regarding
the campaign’s payments to Cliford and
American Media.

IF ANYONE IMAGINEDthat these sordid
details didn’t add up to serious legal jeop-
ardy for Trump, the top law-enforcement
oicials on the case set them straight after
the Aug. 21 hearing. As the U.S. prosecutor
on the case, Robert Khuzami, said, “We
are a nation of laws, with one set of rules
that applies equally to everyone.” William
F. Sweeney Jr., the FBI’s top New York cop,
chimed in that “we are all expected to fol-
low the rule of law.” And James Robnett,
the special agent in charge of the IRS’s
New York Criminal Investigation unit said
Cohen’s plea “sends a clear message that
the tax laws apply to everybody.”
And the transactions open up prob-
lems for the President that go beyond his

implication in a federal crime. By con-

fessing that he invoiced the Trump Or-

ganization, Cohen may draw increased

scrutiny to the company’s books. That

could result in the closest look yet at the

inances of a President who has stead-

fastly refused to release his tax returns.

Already, some Trump antagonists

have seized on Cohen’s statements as

supporting evidence in their own ongo-

ing legal battles. “The likelihood of me

being able to depose Michael Cohen and

the President of the United States just

went up exponentially,” says Michael

Avenatti, Cliford’s attorney, whose mo-

tion to take testimony from both men

awaits a hearing. A California judge had

stayed the case pending the outcome of

the Cohen investigation. A hearing on

GEORGE

PAPADOPOULOS

TRUMP CAMPAIGN

ADVISER

Pleaded guilty to lying

to the FBI about his

Russian contacts

ALEX VAN DER

ZWAAN

LAWYER

Spent 30 days in prison

and was deported after

pleading guilty to lying

to the FBI

ROGER STONE

TRUMP ADVISER

Reportedly under

investigation by

Mueller’s team

DONALD TRUMP JR.

TRUMP SON

Testiied before a

Senate committee

about contacts with a

Kremlin-tied Russian

lawyer in 2016

CARTER PAGE

TRUMP CAMPAIGN

ADVISER

Surveilled by federal

investigators for his

contacts with Russians

Trump and Cohen visit Portsmouth, N.H.,

in April 2011

TOP: RICK FRIEDMAN—POLARIS; BOTTOM: MANAFORT: AP/SHUTTERSTOCK; GATES, VAN DER ZWAAN: GETTY IMAGES; COHEN: REUTERS; FLYNN: THE WASHINGTON POST/GETTY IMAGES;

PAPADOPOULOS: ALEXANDRIA (VA.) SHERIFF’S OFFICE; STONE: GETTY IMAGES FOR POLITICON; TRUMP JR.: AFP/GETTY IMAGES; PAGE: ABC/GETTY IMAGES