President Trump faces impeachment and jail?

US Democratic lawmakers said on December 9 that President Donald Trump could face impeachment and imprisonment if financial transactions disclosed by his former lawyer are proven to violate campaign finance laws.

New controversial revelation

Court documents released on December 7 in a lawsuit related to the investigation of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US election led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller pointed to potential problems for President Trump, including whether or not Trump asked his former lawyer Michael Cohen to make six-figure payments to actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal to cover up their relationships.

Speaking to CNN, Democratic Congressman Jerrold Nadler said that if the transactions were proven to violate campaign finance laws, it would be grounds for impeachment. Under US law, campaign contributions must be disclosed. In each election, an individual can donate a maximum of $2,700 to a candidate.

Federal prosecutors had previously sought prison time for the president's former longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, in connection with the case, as well as charges of tax fraud and lying to Congress about negotiations related to a Trump Tower project in Moscow.

The White House has yet to comment on the above information. But on December 7, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders affirmed that Mr. Cohen has lied many times and that the released court records are not important. Reuters said that court records related to the case of Mr. Cohen and Mr. Paul Manafort, former campaign manager of US President Donald Trump, also revealed new information about contacts between people working for Mr. Trump and Russians.

Paul Manafort was convicted in August 2018 on charges of corruption and tax evasion. According to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Paul Manafort lied to investigators about his contacts with a Russian linked to Russian intelligence. Mueller's office said prosecutors withdrew Manafort's plea agreement last week.

“I believe the indictments and court records show that President Trump is at the center of one or more major corruptions against the American people,” said Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler.

Is there a prison sentence?

The investigation into Russian interference in the US election, which has been ongoing since March 2017, has cast a shadow over the first half of Mr. Trump’s presidency. Mr. Trump has repeatedly expressed impatience with the investigation, claiming that it is politically motivated.

Responding to the new revelations, President Trump stressed that court records did not prove any connection between his campaign team and Russia, and called for an end to the investigation. “It’s time to end the witch hunt!”, Mr. Trump wrote on his personal Twitter page on December 8. However, observers say that the end of Mueller’s investigation could be the beginning of bigger troubles for President Trump. Speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Representative Adam Schiff, who will head the House Intelligence Committee in 2019, said: “There is a possibility that President Trump will one day leave office and the Justice Department may impeach him. Then he will be the first president to face the risk of going to jail.”

Legal experts are divided on whether a sitting president can be impeached and whether campaign finance violations are enough to warrant impeachment. Republican Senator Rand Paul warned against “over-criminalizing” campaign finance violations. “Failures in financial disclosure should be punished with fines, not prison time,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Senator Marco Rubio said he was waiting for the results of the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the US election and related investigations. However, he warned that "no one is above the law." According to the Senator, it would be a "grave mistake" if President Trump pardoned Manafort, and stressed that this could spark a debate about whether the President's pardon power should be amended. Previously, President Trump did not rule out the possibility of considering a pardon for Mr. Manafort.

Congressman Adam Schiff said that Mr. Trump should seek a pardon for himself from the next President of the United States. Democrats in the House of Representatives have pledged to conduct a series of investigations into Mr. Trump's activities./.