Top Democratic leader Adam Schiff told CBS News over the weekend that President Donald Trump faces “the real prospect of jail time” over payments made to accusers in 2016 — and the mainstream media loved it.
But a legal expert told Forbes that Schiff isn’t being honest. Right now, experts say there’s zero chance Trump is in any trouble.
More fake news from the liberal media?
“There’s a very real prospect that on the day Donald Trump leaves office, the Justice Department may indict him,” Schiff said on Sunday. “That he may be the first president in quite some time to face the real prospect of jail time,” he said on CBS News’ political talk show “Face the Nation.”
Dan Backer — an expert campaign finance lawyer — told Forbes he was unimpressed with the evidence that was so far presented against the Trump camp.
Backer said there appears to be zero evidence to corroborate the claim that Trump did anything illegal. In fact, he said it’s common practice for high-profile business people to take part in these types of agreements, and said that the Trump name was a business brand that was simply being protected.
“Brand protection is not a campaign contribution,” Backer told Forbes.
That fact hasn’t stopped Schiff, the incoming chairman of the House intelligence committee, and his political allies. Schiff says impeachment and criminal charges are on the Democrats agenda moving forward. “The bigger pardon question may come down the road as the next president has to determine whether to pardon Donald Trump.”
Trump has denied wrongdoing and has compared the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team to a political “witch hunt.”
Mueller has not said when he will complete the expensive and long-running investigation, and it isn’t clear that any final report would ever be made available to Congress. That would be up to the attorney general. Trump on Friday said he would nominate former Attorney General William Barr to the post to succeed Jeff Sessions.
In the legal filings released Friday, the Justice Department never accused Trump of acting criminally. But it said Trump told Cohen to make illegal payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, both of whom claimed to have had affairs with Trump more than a decade ago.
Trump himself weighed in on Twitter —
“Democrats can’t find a Smocking Gun tying the Trump campaign to Russia after James Comey’s testimony. No Smocking Gun…No Collusion.” @FoxNews That’s because there was NO COLLUSION. So now the Dems go to a simple private transaction, wrongly call it a campaign contribution,…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 10, 2018
….which it was not (but even if it was, it is only a CIVIL CASE, like Obama’s – but it was done correctly by a lawyer and there would not even be a fine. Lawyer’s liability if he made a mistake, not me). Cohen just trying to get his sentence reduced. WITCH HUNT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 10, 2018
In separate filings, Mueller’s team detail how former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen spoke to a Russian influence maker regarding a potential business deal with Trump during the election. Cohen said he never followed up on that meeting.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Republican, said lawmakers need more information before they can render judgment.
Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine and a member of the Senate intelligence committee that aligns politically with Democrats, cautioned against a rush to impeachment. King said voters would see it as “political revenge and a coup against the president.”
“The best way to solve a problem like this, to me, is elections,” King said. “I’m a conservative when it comes to impeachment. I think it’s a last resort and only when the evidence is clear of a really substantial legal violation. We may get there, but we’re not there now.”
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The Associated Press contributed to this article