“It’s quite clear his goose is cooked here,” he said Wednesday on MSNBC.
Painter said the three-year prison sentence handed down on Wednesday to Michael Cohen, Trump’s former longtime personal attorney, should be a warning sign to the White House.
“If the lawyer gets three years, how much time should the client get?” he asked.
Painter added that Cohen’s crimes don’t even include any allegations related to Russia, currently the subject of special counsel Robert Mueller investigation.
He said Trump has just one way out to protect himself and his family: a comprehensive plea deal to federal and state charges in exchange for his resignation.
“Donald Trump is in serious trouble. His lawyers ought to be telling him to negotiate a plea deal,” Painter said. “Get him out of the White House. Have him resign, plead guilty to lower charges and let’s move on as a country.”
See his full discussion, above, which begins about 5½ minutes in.
Later, on Twitter, Painter called it “The Art of the Plea Bargain,” a not-so-subtle reference to Trump’s book The Art of The Deal, and he urged Trump to act fast.
The Art of the Plea Bargain. Move fast. Holdouts get worse deals.@realdonaldtrump: negotiate with Bob Mueller and the NY AG while you still have keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., and perhaps the Old Post Office hotel, to throw into the bargain.https://t.co/zFzHYwnqb7 via rawstory
There are many cases where the client got time but the lawyer who helped him do it got no time. There are some cases where the lawyer and the client both got time. There are very very few cases where only the lawyer got time. Deal time @realDonaldTrump?
Painter served in the Bush White House from 2005-2007, but has since turned into a vocal Trump critic. He was a lifelong Republican until this year, when he ran and lost in a primary as a Democrat against Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith.
Earlier this year, he predicted prison sentences for Trump insiders over Mueller’s Russia investigation.
“A lot of people are lying about their contacts with the Russians, and that’s criminal, so we’re going to have people going to the slammer over this,” he said in March. “The question is who and how high up this is going to reach with respect to criminal conduct.”
Affluent Americans may want to double-check how much of their bank deposits are protected by government-backed insurance. The rules governing trust accounts just changed.
Former NBA guard Darius Morris has died at the age of 33. He played for five teams during his four NBA seasons. Morris played college basketball at Michigan.
With free agency and the draft behind us, what 32 teams look like today will likely be what they look like Week 1 and beyond for the 2024 season. Matt Harmon and Scott Pianowski reveal the post-draft fantasy power rankings. The duo break down the rankings in six tiers: Elite offensive ecosystems, teams on the cusp of being complete mixed bag ecosystems, offensive ecosystems with something to prove, offenses that could go either way, and offenses that are best to stay away from in fantasy.
Teams have made their big splashes in free agency and made their draft picks, it's time for you to do the same. It's fantasy football mock draft time. Some call this time of year best ball season, others know it's an opportunity to get a leg up on your competition for when you have to draft in August. The staff at Yahoo Fantasy did their first mock draft of the 2024 season to help you with the latter. Matt Harmon and Andy Behrens are here to break it all down by each round and crush some staff members in the process.
It’s key to note that we’re not saying the “best team” or “best roster.” Instead, we’re talking about the best confluence of factors that can outline a path for survival and then success.
An annual government report offered a glimmer of good news for Social Security and a jolt of good news for Medicare even as both programs continue to be on pace to run dry next decade.