I’ve always thought that the Stormy Daniels scandal was much worse for Trump than L’Affaire Russe, if only because it doesn’t involve dark unknowable Russians AND the White House cannot hide everything in executive privilege. It seems others agree:

House Democrats plan to shift their focus this fall to President Trump’s alleged role in the hush money scheme that led to the imprisonment of his former lawyer, the Washington Post reported.

As early as October, the House Judiciary Committee intends to hold hearings and call in witnesses involved in the scheme to keep both porn actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal quiet about alleged affairs with Trump ahead of the 2016 election. According to people familiar with the plans who spoke to the Post, Democrats on the panel believe there is enough proof from special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings to name Trump as co-conspirator in the case that put Michael Cohen in prison for campaign finance violations. He’s currently serving a three-year sentence for the hush payment ordeal, as well as for other financial wrongdoing and lying to Congress.

Democrats will reportedly point their laser focus on Trump’s involvement in the whole ordeal and they plan to dig into whether they can charge Trump if it weren’t for the Justice Department’s rule that prevents the indictment of a sitting president.
The panel also wants to know if there were any efforts by Trump or his allies to obstruct Mueller’s probe into this specific matter.

David Pecker, the chairman and CEO of American Media Inc., which owns the National Enquirer, will reportedly be asked to come in as a potential witness. The National Enquirer tabloid admitted in Mueller’s probe that it bought the rights to McDougal’s life story, allegedly to silence her claims of an extensive affair with Trump.

The fingerprints are all over this one — it’s not like a big mystery. There is already enough evidence to name Trump as a co-conspirator in the episode that resulted in his former attorney, Michael Cohen, pleading guilty to two campaign finance charges.  Cohen, who is serving a three-year prison sentence for those counts and other crimes, testified under oath that Trump directed the payments that helped land him behind bars. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan also described Trump’s alleged role in the scheme, referring to him in court papers as “Individual-1.”

But they concluded their investigation this summer without bringing any additional charges. And why not? Because of the same DOJ opinion that says you cannot indict a sitting president.

Stormy’s a-brewin’