Trump reportedly wants to win re-election to avoid indictments


President Trump wants more out of a second term than that far-from-built wall.
As multiple investigations continue to swirl, Trump has taken comfort in the fact that current Justice Department policy says "a president cannot be indicted while in office," people close to Trump tell The New York Times. In fact, the promise of using the presidency as a legal shield is reportedly one of the reasons Trump wants to stay in the White House.
On Tuesday, the Times published copies of six checks Trump paid to his former lawyer Michael Cohen. They're among 11 checks Cohen received to cover "hush payments to prevent alleged sexual misconduct from being exposed before the 2016 presidential election," the Times says. Cohen provided two of those checks to Congress last week, and pleaded guilty last year to financial crimes relating to those payments.
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 implicated Trump in his campaign finance crimes last year, and these check copies only add to the "quality of the evidence" against Cohen and Trump, former White House counsel Robert Bauer tells the Times. This "now leaves little doubt that [Trump] faces criminal prosecution after he leaves office," says Bauer, who served under former President Barack Obama. So it's no wonder that Trump is trying to hunker down in the Oval Office as long as he can. Read more at The New York Times.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
Youth revolts rattle Morocco as calls against corruption grow louder
THE EXPLAINER Snowballing controversy over World Cup construction and civic services has become a serious threat to Morocco’s political stability
-
Israel intercepts 2nd Gaza aid flotilla in a week
Speed Read The Israeli military intercepted a flotilla of nine boats with 145 activists aboard along with medical and food aid
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial unease
Speed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Bondi stonewalls on Epstein, Comey in Senate face-off
Speed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi denied charges of using the Justice Department in service of Trump’s personal vendettas
-
Court allows Trump’s Texas troops to head to Chicago
Speed Read Trump is ‘using our service members as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,’ said Gov. J.B. Pritzker
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in Oregon
Speed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denial
Speed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels
speed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feud
Speed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protesters
Speed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’
Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US