Meanwhile, Trump is on a plane


In the span of about an hour Tuesday, two big dominoes fell in President Trump's world. First, a jury found former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort guilty on eight felony charges of financial crimes, including two counts of bank fraud and five counts of tax evasion. While the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the other 10 counts against Manafort, Tuesday's verdict combines to carry a sentence of 240 years for the 69-year-old.
Minutes after the verdict against Manafort was read aloud in a courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia, Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to eight felony charges of his own, in a Manhattan courtroom. Manafort's indictment had resulted from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling in 2016, and his charges largely stem from work he did abroad before he joined Trump's team. But Mueller's team had referred Cohen's case to New York-based federal prosecutors, and Cohen on Tuesday admitted to tax fraud and violating campaign finance laws as a result of their investigation.
The president, meanwhile, was several miles above the fray Tuesday — but only literally. Trump boarded Air Force One on his way to a rally in West Virginia virtually simultaneously to the two cases reaching their ominous end:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Cohen specifically said he'd committed his crimes "in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office," which is inevitably Trump. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters she "[didn't] have anything" to say regarding the Manafort and Cohen cases. As for the president himself, well, Air Force One is outfitted with WiFi, but he has yet to respond.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kimberly Alters is the news editor at TheWeek.com. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
-
Mountainhead: Jesse Armstrong's tech bro satire sparkles with 'weapons-grade zingers'
The Week Recommends The Succession creator's first feature film lacks the hit TV show's 'dramatic richness' – but makes for a horribly gripping watch
-
Seeing Each Other: Portraits of Artists – a 'riveting' exhibition
The Week Recommends Pallant House exhibition offers fascinating instances of painterly reciprocity
-
Geoff Dyer shares his favourite books on war
The Week Recommends Out of Sheer Rage author chooses works by Martha Gellhorn, Michael Herr and Dexter Filkins
-
Trump hits Africa, Middle East with new travel ban
Speed Read The travel ban bars visitors from 12 countries and restricts entry from seven
-
Elon Musk slams Trump's 'pork-filled' signature bill
speed read 'Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong,' Musk posted on X
-
Depleted FEMA struggling as hurricane season begins
speed read FEMA has lost a third of its workforce amid DOGE cuts enforced by President Donald Trump
-
White House tackles fake citations in MAHA report
speed read A federal government public health report spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was rife with false citations
-
Judge blocks push to bar Harvard foreign students
speed read Judge Allison Burroughs sided with Harvard against the Trump administration's attempt to block the admittance of international students
-
Trump's trade war whipsawed by court rulings
Speed Read A series of court rulings over Trump's tariffs renders the future of US trade policy uncertain
-
Elon Musk departs Trump administration
speed read The former DOGE head says he is ending his government work to spend more time on his companies
-
Trump taps ex-personal lawyer for appeals court
speed read The president has nominated Emil Bove, his former criminal defense lawyer, to be a federal judge