Michael Cohen’s sentencing could make it harder for Nancy Pelosi and Democrats to stave off impeachment – Washington Examiner

Former President Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s sentencing to three years in jail, whatever its tangible implications, could make it more difficult for Nancy Pelosi to stave off impeachment once Democrats assume control of the House of Representatives next month.

Even as Trump’s legal challenges accumulate, Pelosi and the Democratic leadership are in a bit of a bind of their own. Polls have shown opposition to impeachment among the general public, even as Democrats overwhelmingly support the course.

Barring a bombshell revelation on collusion with Russia, the ideal political course for Democrats over the next two years would be to use their new House majority to pass legislation on kitchen table issues that are unifying to their caucus, politically popular, and yet likely to be opposed by Republicans in the Senate. This will give Democrats issues to run on in 2020. If they overreach on impeachment, however, it could backfire by becoming a distraction and allowing Trump to rally people to his cause.

That said, the Cohen news could ramp up pressure on Pelosi to use all tools at Democrats’ disposal to go after Trump, including impeachment.

Cohen joins Paul Manafort and Rick Gates as major figures in Trump world during the 2016 campaign who turned out to be felons. What’s more, Cohen, who facilitated hush money payments during the campaign, implicated Trump.

Attorney Lanny Davis, who worked for Bill Clinton and went on to represent Cohen, said that after the Robert Mueller investigation wraps up, Cohen wants “to state publicly all he knows about Mr. Trump — and that includes any appropriate congressional committee interested in the search for truth and the difference between facts and lies.”

Now, there is plenty left unsaid about what specifically Trump knew about, and Trump’s defenders have argued that impeaching a president over a campaign finance reporting issue would be a stretch. But that’s a separate argument — one about the substance of whether Trump deserves to be impeached. The question the Democratic leadership will have to deal with is whether pressure from liberals to launch impeachment proceedings becomes so overwhelming that it gets hard to avoid. And clearly, the Cohen news increases that pressure.