American prosecutors say Trump directed money to shut up two women
United States prosecutors say President Donald Trump directed his former personal attorney to make illegal hush money payments to two women ahead of the 2016 US presidential election.
Prosecutors also explained that there was an attempt by a Russian citizen to help Trump's campaign. In documents submitted to federal court, prosecutors in New York and prosecutors working with special counsel Robert Mueller said Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, and former campaign team leader Paul Manafort, deserved jail.
This document shows prosecutors believe Trump was involved in campaign finance violations.
"In total, prosecutors seem to say President Trump actually knows more about this than he admits," said former federal prosecutor Michael Zeldin, who was asked for comments by Reuters on Friday, December 7, 2018 local time.
Prosecutors are required by courts to submit a memo on Friday regarding cooperation with Cohen to US district judge William Pauley in Manhattan. The judge will decide Cohen's sentence on December 12, 2018.
Cohen's case has implications for President Trump regarding the payment of silent money to two women, namely adult film player Stormy Daniels, and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
As reported by the US mass media previously, Trump had an intimate relationship with the two women several years ago before he bid for the US Presidential candidate.
Cohen has pleaded guilty to this matter at a court hearing that was held in August 2018 in federal court in New York. The prosecutor's documents submitted to the court on Friday officially confirmed the case.
"The document states Cohen made the payments in coordination and at the direction of Trump," he said.
On this matter, Senator from the Democratic Party, who is in the opposition, namely Diane Feinstein, said the legal document showed serious criminal offenses including law violations related to campaign funds under the direction of President Trump.
Regarding this, Trump said in a tweet on Twitter that federal investigators and senior officials are experiencing a conflict of interest. He did not provide evidence of this accusation.
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the White House, Sarah Sanders, said Cohen was a liar and called the document insignificant. "The government documents related to the Cohen case tell us nothing new," he said, defending Trump.
