Why Trump's Directing Cohen, Others to Lie Would Be Far Worse Than Watergate
"If the President of the United States directed his personal attorney and fixer to help sabotage the Russia investigation by lying to Congress, there is no turning back for the nation. Given the independent corroborating evidence that special counsel Robert Mueller reportedly has to show that’s what the president did, things are only going to get worse for the White House from here.
Cohen’s lying to Congress (and to the Special Counsel’s Office) was not only about covering up a secret deal with the Kremlin during the heart of the campaign, a deal that potentially even included an illegal payoff for Putin personally. It was also a direct hit on the Russia investigation itself. The Special Counsel told the court that Cohen’s lies to both Congress and the Special Counsel were “intended to limit ongoing investigations into Russian interference in a U.S. presidential election, and the question of any links or coordination between a campaign and a foreign government.”
What makes the Cohen lies even worse—and yes, far worse than Watergate—is that it exposed any U.S. officials who were involved in orchestrating his false testimony to blackmail by Russia. As Barbara McQuade, former U.S. Attorney and professor at the University of Michigan Law School, wrote at Just Security, “in the context of counterintelligence investigations, lies can also compromise national security….A foreign adversary like Russia can use lies as leverage over government officials to coerce them into complying with its demands or else face exposure of the lies.” As former acting Attorney General Sally Yates testified in the context of Flynn’s lying about Russian contacts, “To state the obvious, you don’t want your national security adviser compromised with the Russians.” If Trump suborned false statements, the President would have exposed not only himself to Kremlin blackmail, but also other members of his team who, according to court documents and reporting, helped orchestrate his personal lawyer’s congressional testimony."
https://www.justsecurity.org/62300/trumps-directing-cohen-lie-worse-watergate/
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and its allies down with him.
he will attempt to FUBAR.
I have no doubt that Donald Trump is the stupidest man to ever be elected *pResident.
It's bad politics, it's naked greed, it's arrogance, it's self-aggrandizement - yeah all those things. But the shocking stupidity of this man and the fact that way too many Americans CANNOT SEE IT! Even Nixon, Reagan and Dubya knew enough to bring in good advisers and they were smart enough to listen to their advice. (It doesn't make them good Presidents though.) Trump has never done any of this and I'm sure he wouldn't know how to even start.
