Updated
Leading Democrats have said impeachment or prison
time are real possibilities for Donald Trump if it is proved that he
directed illegal hush money payments to women, adding to the legal
pressure on the US President over the Russia investigation and other
scandals.
Key points:
- On Friday, prosecutors for the first time linked Mr Trump to a federal crime
- Mr Nadler said this evidence showed Mr Trump was "at the centre of a massive fraud"
- He indicated Democrats will step up their own investigations
"There's a very real prospect that on the day Donald Trump leaves office, the Justice Department may indict him, that he may be the first president in quite some time to face the real prospect of jail time," said Adam Schiff, the incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
"The bigger pardon question may come down the road as the next president has to determine whether to pardon Donald Trump."
Jerry Nadler, the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, described the details in prosecutors' filings that were released on Friday (local time) in the case of Mr Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen as evidence that Mr Trump was "at the centre of a massive fraud".
"They would be impeachable offences," he said.
In the filings, prosecutors in New York for the first time linked Mr Trump to a federal crime of illegal payments to buy the silence of two women during the 2016 campaign.
Special counsel Robert Mueller's office also laid out previously undisclosed contacts between Trump associates and Russian intermediaries, and suggested the Kremlin aimed early on to influence Mr Trump and his Republican campaign by playing to both his political and personal business interests.
Mr Trump has denied wrongdoing and has compared the investigations to a "witch hunt".
“Democrats can’t find a Smocking Gun tying the Trump campaign to Russia after James Comey’s testimony. No Smocking Gun...No Collusion.” @FoxNews That’s because there was NO COLLUSION. So now the Dems go to a simple private transaction, wrongly call it a campaign contribution,...
....which it was not (but even if it was, it is only a CIVIL CASE, like Obama’s - but it was done correctly by a lawyer and there would not even be a fine. Lawyer’s liability if he made a mistake, not me). Cohen just trying to get his sentence reduced. WITCH HUNT!
Mr Nadler said it was too early to say whether Congress would pursue impeachment proceedings based on the illegal payments alone because politicians would need to weigh the gravity of the offense to justify "overturning" the 2016 election.
He and other politicians said they would await additional details from Mr Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference, including possible coordination with the Trump campaign, to determine the extent of Mr Trump's misconduct.
But Mr Nadler said whether or not they pursue impeachment, the illegal payments nevertheless constituted impeachable offenses.
"Even though they were committed before the President became President, they were committed in the service of fraudulently obtaining the office," he said.Mr Mueller has not said when he will complete a report of any findings, and it isn't clear that any such report would be made available to Congress. That would be up to the Attorney-General.
Mr Trump said he would nominate former attorney-general William Barr to the post to succeed Jeff Sessions.
Mr Nadler indicated that Democrats, who will control the House in January, will step up their own investigations.
"The new Congress will not try to shield the President," he said.
"We will try to get to the bottom of this, in order to serve the American people and to stop this massive conspiracy — this massive fraud on the American people."
Trump hasn't been directly accused of a crime
In the legal filings, the Justice Department stopped short of accusing Mr Trump of directly committing a crime.But it said Mr Trump told Mr Cohen to make illegal payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, both of whom claimed to have had affairs with Mr Trump more than a decade ago.
In separate filings, Mr Mueller's team detailed how Mr Cohen spoke to a Russian who "claimed to be a 'trusted person' in the Russian Federation who could offer the campaign 'political synergy' and 'synergy on a government level'".
Mr Cohen said he never followed up on that meeting. Mr Mueller's team also said former campaign chairman Paul Manafort lied to them about his contacts with a Russian associate and Trump administration officials, including in 2018.
Republican senator Marco Rubio of Florida called the latest filings "relevant" in judging Mr Trump's fitness for office, but said politicians need more information to render judgment.
He also warned the White House about considering a pardon for Mr Manafort, saying such a step could trigger congressional debate about limiting a president's pardon powers.
"Pardons should be used judiciously. They're used for cases with extraordinary circumstances," he said.AP
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