Time Sep

36 TIME September 3–10 2018

When that didn’t come to pass he told
friends he might be White House chief of
staf. That didn’t happen either but still
he swore he’d “take a bullet” for Trump.
In the end the President’s longtime
personal lawyer stood before a federal
judge in a New York City courthouse
on Aug. 21 and swore to something else
entirely: that he had engaged in a crime
coordinated by the man who now sits in
the Oval Oice.
Even in a presidency punctuated
by surreal moments it was a stunning
scene. Cohen pleaded guilty to eight
felony counts including arranging pay-
ments during the 2016 campaign to
suppress two women’s accounts of al-
leged extramarital afairs with Trump.
“I participated in this conduct” Cohen
avowed “in coordination with and at
the direction of ” Trump himself. With
that extraordinary statement he im-
plicated the President of the United
States in a federal crime—to be violat-
ing campaign-inance laws—“principal
purpose” of which he said was to inlu-
ence an election that Trump won by only
78000 votes in three states.
The courtroom drama brought
all the President’s legal and political
problems together in a single supernova.
It highlighted Trump’s sordid history
with women his willingness to blur the
lines between business and politics and
growing fallout from the investigation

led by special counsel Robert Mueller

who referred the Cohen case to federal

prosecutors. Worse the explosion

came minutes after Trump’s onetime

campaign chairman Paul Manafort was

convicted on eight counts of tax evasion

and bank fraud in a case prosecuted

by Mueller’s deputies. And it followed

revelations that White House counsel

Don McGahn has cooperated extensively

with Mueller’s probe sitting for more

than 30 hours of detailed and candid

interviews.

It was arguably the most pivotal day

in this presidency and the consequences

are only beginning to kick in. Cohen’s

plea raised questions that cut to the

heart of Trump’s legitimacy. If Trump

was willing to deploy his vast fortune

to quash salacious stories as Cohen al-

leges what else might he have used his

wealth for? What other damaging in-

formation could the President’s former

ixer share? And what scrutiny awaits

Trump’s business empire which the

President has sought to shield from the

widening probes?

For now Trump may not pay a

political or legal price. He has beneited

from an unshakable bond with his base:

even as criminal investigations seep

further into his inner circle Trump

has averaged an 87% approval rating

from Republicans so far in his second

year according to Gallup. And many

legal experts believe that as President

he cannot be indicted for a crime while

in oice. “He did nothing wrong”

said White House spokesperson Sarah

Huckabee Sanders on Aug. 22. “There

are no charges against him in this. And

just because Michael Cohen has made a

deal doesn’t mean that that implicates

the President on anything.”

There was no question however

that the late-August events mark a

new and dangerous phase for Trump.

Nation

Michael Cohen

once believed

he would lead

Donald Trump’s

presidential

campaign.

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