Right wing lawyer explains why Trump's indictment looks inevitable

In a column that is likely to dismay readers on the Fox News website, conservative attorney Andrew McCarthy - a regular contributor to National Review Online -- said that it is inevitable that President Donald Trump is going to be indicted by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney that he appointed for campaign finance violations.

McCarthy got right to the point, writing: "The major takeaway from the 40-page sentencing memorandum filed by federal prosecutors Friday for Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal attorney, is this: The president is very likely to be indicted on a charge of violating federal campaign finance laws."

Walking readers, step-by-step, through the findings with an emphasis on Trump's relationship with his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, McCarthy focused in on Cohen's $150,000 payment to Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal, with the plan to be reimbursed by Trump.

"Cohen says he was operating at Trump’s direction. Logically, then, if this is true and Cohen caused the third-party illegal contribution, so did the president," McCarthy wrote. "As for the second campaign finance charge, that involves an illegal payment by Cohen – the $130,000 to Stephanie Clifford (who goes by the stage name “Stormy Daniels”). There are two things to bear in mind about it. First, as we’ve just seen, it is a felony to cause another person to make an illegal contribution. Since, under the claim by prosecutors Trump was directing Cohen, Trump could be accused of having caused Cohen to make an illegal payment."

"The fact that Trump could have made the payment himself without violating the law does not excuse allegedly causing Cohen to violate the law," he added. "Trump’s point that he had no personal limit on spending is also undermined by the facts that (a) the payment was not reported, and (b) the purpose of the transaction was to distance him from the payment (which is why the non-disclosure agreement employs pseudonyms rather than referring to Trump and Clifford by name)."

"Cohen chose to plead guilty and forfeited the right to contest this point. That concession is not binding on Trump. If the president is charged, I expect he would vigorously argue that the payment was not a campaign contribution," he explained before concluding. "The point for this day is that the Cohen case in New York City is not about Cohen. The president is in peril of being charged."

You can read the whole piece here.