From foreign interference to influence peddling, Trump cornered by more probes

WASHINGTON: Everything Trump is coming under the scrutiny of investigators as the US President, who has used the term “witchhunt” multiple times to defend himself, finds himself increasingly besieged on multiple fronts.

What began as an FBI special counsel probe into the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia has suddenly ballooned into investigations into everything from money collected and spent during Trump’s inauguration to whether the Trump transition team sold access to the incoming President, according to new reports.

The bombshells comes on the heels of disclosure that Trump himself was present at a meeting with his fixers Michael Cohen (his lawyer) and David Pecker (a tabloid owner) to discuss hush money payments to women who claimed to have affairs with him, in an effort to suppress stories when he was running for President. Directing such a plan to influence the outcome of the Presidential election is seen to attract felony charges for campaign finance violation.

Separately, federal prosecutors are also said to be examining whether foreign governments – particularly Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE — illegally funneled donations to Trump’s inaugural committee and a pro-Trump super PAC in hopes of buying influence over American policy.

The expanded inquiries come amid increasingly heated discussions on whether a sitting President can be charged for a crime. While the Justice Department’s widely accepted interpretation of the US Constitution is that a serving President cannot be indicted and he can only be impeached by Congress, the debate has now moved to whether he can be charged AFTER he remits office if the statute of limitation pertaining to the crime has not expired.

Some Trump critics and Democratic lawmakers are having visions of Trump in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs, even as the President keeps waving off the charges, insisting he has done nothing wrong, and even if he has, it is his lawyer’s fault not his, and in any case, he is immune from prosecution.

But those who have been through Washington’s legal wringer are cautioning the President it is not so easy.

“Trump’s campaign. Trump’s transition. Trump’s inauguration. Trump’s presidency. Plus Trump & family. All are now under state and federal criminal and civil investigations. This is much more damning than Watergate, and it is just getting started,” warned John Dean, a former Nixon White House counsel during the Watergate scandal.

The heightened political tensions came after the President’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen said whatever he did, including paying off a porn actress who claims to have had a one-night stand with Trump, he did so at Trump’s direction, even as the President insisted that he gave no instructions to break any laws and he expected his attorney to know the laws.

But Trump also incriminated himself in a separate Fox News interview in which he said Cohen was not much of a lawyer, and that he was more of a fixer and flack than a lawyer, who did minor work for him. “Has anyone told the President he has the right to remain silent?” went one gag on social media after Trump yet again made a meal of his defense.

Amid all this came the news that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is seeking a job as Trump’s chief of staff, a post that has been turned down by several Republican operatives fearful of the fate of the Trump administration and also working with Trump. The US President insists many people are interested in the job and he has been interviewing them.