Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy has bad news for President Donald Trump: Get ready to be indicted for violating federal campaign finance laws.
McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor, said on “Fox & Friends†Sunday that attorneys with the Southern District of New York are “clearly†going after Trump, given recent revelations about statements by Michael Cohen, his former personal lawyer, to the U.S. district court.
“They are clearly going after the president on campaign finance violations and I think if you read the sentencing memo the Southern District filed in Cohen’s case, it’s clear that Trump is the target and he’ll be indicted eventually,†McCarthy said.
McCarthy served as assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District for 18 years before leaving the Justice Department in 2003.
On Friday, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District filed a sentencing memo recommending Cohen receive a 42-month prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to multiple counts of business and tax fraud, making false statements to Congress and violating campaign finance law.
Cohen told the court in August that during the 2016 presidential campaign Trump directed him to make hush money payments to at least two women who say they’ve had affairs with him after he married his third wife, Melania. The president has denied the affairs and the hush money allegations.
Prosecutors say the payments violate federal campaign finance laws.
The first payment in question ― $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels ― violated campaign finance law restrictions against donations of more than $2,700 in a general election, according to federal prosecutors.
The second payment under legal scrutiny is $150,000 made by American Media Inc. to silence Karen McDougal, which prosecutors say constituted an illegal corporate donation to Trump’s campaign. The National Enquirer’s parent company was chaired at the time by Trump’s longtime confidante, David Pecker.
The Southern District case involving Cohen stems from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether Trump obstructed justice.
www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fox-news-andrew-mccarthy-trump-indicted_us_5c0d5cafe4b0ab8cf6946c32