WASHINGTON (AP) — A look at where the investigations related to President Donald Trump stand and what may lie ahead for him:
WHAT’S THIS ALL ABOUT?
Special counsel Robert Mueller is looking into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia and whether the president obstructed the investigation. Trump also plays a central role in a separate case in New York, where prosecutors have implicated him in a crime. They say Trump directed his personal lawyer Michael Cohen to make illegal hush-money payments to two women as a way to quash potential sex scandals during the campaign. New York prosecutors also are looking into Trump’s inaugural fund.
Congressional investigations also are swirling around the president. Democrats have launched a sweeping probe of Trump, an aggressive investigation that threatens to shadow the president through the 2020 election season.
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WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW RIGHT NOW?
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced Wednesday to a total of seven and a half years in prison. He was then immediately hit with fresh charges in New York that are outside of the president’s pardon power.
During Wednesday’s sentencing, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson brushed aside Manafort’s pleas for leniency. She rebuked him for misleading the government about his lucrative foreign lobbying work and for encouraging witnesses to lie on his behalf.
Trump said he felt “very badly” for Manafort but he hasn’t given any thought to a pardon.
Minutes after the sentence was imposed in federal court in Washington, prosecutors in New York City unsealed a 16-count indictment against Manafort, including allegations that he gave false information on mortgage loan applications.
The new case appeared partly designed to protect against the possibility that Trump could pardon Manafort, who led Trump’s 2016 White House bid for months. The president can pardon federal crimes, but not state offenses.
Also Wednesday: Former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker met in private with the leaders of the House Judiciary Committee. Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., suggested afterward that Whitaker may have discussed Cohen’s legal troubles with Trump, saying Whitaker “did not deny” the conversations.
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SO … DID THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN COLLUDE WITH RUSSIA?
There is no smoking gun when it comes to the question of Russia collusion. But the evidence so far shows that a broad range of Trump associates had Russia-related contacts during the 2016 presidential campaign and transition period, and several lied about the communications.
There is evidence that some people in Trump’s orbit were discussing a possible email dump from WikiLeaks before it occurred. American intelligence agencies and Mueller have said Russia was the source of hacked material released by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks during the campaign that was damaging to Democrat Hillary Clinton’s presidential effort.
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OTHER QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:
—WHAT ABOUT OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE? That is another unresolved question that Mueller is pursuing. Investigators have examined key episodes such as Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey and Trump’s fury over Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal.
—WHAT DOES TRUMP HAVE TO SAY ABOUT ALL THIS? Trump has repeatedly slammed the Mueller investigation as a “witch hunt” and insisted there was “NO COLLUSION” with Russia. He also says Cohen lied to get a lighter sentence in New York.
—WHEN WILL IT ALL WRAP UP? It’s unclear. Whitaker said in January that the probe is “close to being completed,” the first official sign that Mueller’s investigation may be wrapping up. But he gave no specific timetable.
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For more in-depth information, follow AP coverage at https://apnews.com/TrumpInvestigations