WASHINGTON (AP) – Michael Cohen’s guilty plea implicating President Donald Trump in a crime reverberated across the political landscape Wednesday, with Republicans rejecting talk of impeachment without evidence of Russian collusion. Democrats steered clear of the word, too, and zeroed in instead on what they called a “cesspool” of corruption engulfing the White House.
The one-two punch ahead of the midterm elections – the plea from former Trump lawyer Cohen and the fraud conviction of one-time campaign chairman Paul Manafort – is presenting the biggest loyalty test yet for Republicans who have been reluctant to criticize the president. Democrats face their own challenge in trying to tamp down calls for impeachment for fear that will galvanize GOP voters in November.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell brushed past reporters Wednesday without answering questions about Cohen or the possibility that the lawyer’s accusations about an illegal campaign cover-up are grounds for impeachment proceedings against Trump. GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan, who is away from Washington, had no direct response either.
Trump’s strongest supporters are taking the view that, absent evidence of collusion with Russia to influence the 2016 election, there is just no case for impeachment.
Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University and a Trump confidant, shrugged off the legal developments.