Prosecutors already have enough evidence to charge Trump over his hush money payments: WSJ reporter
The Wall Street Journal's Rebecca Ballhaus told CNN on Wednesday that prosecutors from the Southern District of New York have enough evidence to charge President Donald Trump with campaign finance violations when he leaves office -- and they collected it well before Michael Cohen, Trump's former fixer, came forward.
"There was a lot of speculation around the time that Cohen did come forward about, you know, 'did prosecutors already know this' and if they didn't know this would they have let Cohen say that in court," Ballhaus said. "What our reporting today shows is that they really did know this to be true."
SDNY prosecutors "conducted many different interviews, they had at least David Pecker confirming that the president has been involved in those payments" to his former mistresses, she went on. "Prosecutors have, since Michael Cohen's guilty plea, said in their own words in court documents that the president -- that Individual One directed Michael Cohen to make these payments."
"If this did happen and if this were deemed to be a campaign donation then it would be illegal because it would be undisclosed," said Poppy Harlow, who added that the "big remaining question" was whether the SDNY would indict Trump.
"They have given every indication that they are adhering to the DOJ guidance" that prohibits indicting a sitting president, said Ballhaus. "What our reporting shows is that they have evidence that, were they to choose to bring a case, we just don't have any signs that they are planning to do so."
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