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 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.
-
How are these Epstein files so damaging to Trump?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As Republicans and Democrats release dueling tranches of Epstein-related documents, the White House finds itself caught in a mess partially of its own making
-
Margaret Atwood’s memoir, intergenerational trauma and the fight to make spousal rape a crime: Welcome to November booksThe Week Recommends This month's new releases include ‘Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts’ by Margaret Atwood, ‘Cursed Daughters’ by Oyinkan Braithwaite and 'Without Consent' by Sarah Weinman
-
‘Tariffs are making daily life less affordable now’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump DOJ sues to block California redistrictingSpeed Read California’s new congressional map was drawn by Democrats to flip Republican-held House seats
-
GOP retreats from shutdown deal payout provisionSpeed Read Senators are distancing themselves from a controversial provision in the new government funding package
-
Catholic bishops rebuke Trump on immigrationSpeed Read ‘We feel compelled’ to ‘raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity,’ the bishops said
-
House releases Epstein emails referencing TrumpSpeed Read The emails suggest Trump knew more about Epstein’s sex trafficking of underage women than he has claimed
-
Newsom slams Trump’s climate denial at COP30speed read Trump, who has called climate change a ‘hoax,’ declined to send any officials to this week’s summit
-
UK, Colombia halt intel to US over boat attacksSpeed Read Both countries have suspended intelligence sharing with the US over the bombing of civilian boats suspected of drug smuggling
-
Trump pardons 2020 fake electors, other GOP alliesSpeed Read The president pardoned Rudy Giuliani and more who tried to overturn his 2020 election loss
-
Supreme Court to decide on mail-in ballot limitsSpeed Read The court will determine whether states can count mail-in ballots received after Election Day
