Former Trump Surrogate, Christie, Sees Big Trouble for the President in New York

It would seem that everyone is looking at last week’s news as ominous and a signal that stormy legal seas are ahead for the president, except the president.

Then again,  President Trump’s unhinged behavior across social media suggests that he’s more upset over the information in the court filings against Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen, and Paul Manafort, than he’s saying.

All three men were part of Donald Trump’s campaign efforts. Flynn went on to work as national security adviser in the Trump administration, for about 3 weeks, before his secretive dealings with Russian officials, as well as lobbying work for Turkey forced his resignation.

And speaking of former Trump campaign clingers and surrogates, not all of them are looking to pipe sunshine up our backsides, in regards to the court filings.

Some of them pay attention, and actually have experience in working as prosecutors.

One such former Trump surrogate is former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Christie’s assessment of last week’s news seems at odds with Donald Trump’s assertion that the news has cleared him of anything.

Christie was particularly concerned with the filings on former Trump attorney and “fixer,” Michael Cohen.

“The language in the sentencing memo is different from what we’ve heard before,” Christie told ABC’s “This Week,” noting that Trump’s former attorney Cohen has previously said he violated campaign finance law at the president’s direction. “The only thing that would concern me if I was the president’s team this morning about this sentencing memo is the language.”

“The language sounds very definite,” Christie said. “And what I’d be concerned about is, what corroboration do they have?”

“Because everyone knows that Michael Cohen is not going to be the most effective or trustworthy witness on the stand, given some of his past statements,” Christie said. “When prosecutors sound that definitive they’ve got more usually than just one witness.”

“Now the flip-side for the prosecutors is, they’d better have more than one witness on this because if you’re shooting at the president of the United States and the only bullet in your gun is Michael Cohen, well I think that’s a problem,” Christie added.

“So I think it’s going to be very interesting to see how this thing plays out.”

Oh, you said a mouthful, Governor.

So let’s go down that road, a bit.

Is Michael Cohen the only bullet in the gun of prosecutors for the Southern District of New York, or that of Robert Mueller?

Well, we have to keep in mind that there are two different cases going on, as it pertains to Michael Cohen.

Cohen is facing his own issues with bank fraud, tax fraud, wire fraud, and campaign finance law violations. These issues are completely separate from the Russia probe.

I’ve mentioned it before, but long before the Russia probe wraps up, Trump’s goose may be cooked by what goes on in New York.

There is documented evidence that implicates Cohen in the payoff of two of Donald Trump’s mistresses, Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, a month before the 2016 election.

Cohen set up a shell company and funneled the payments to the women through that shell company. He later testified under oath that he made those payments at the instruction of, and with full knowledge of then-candidate Trump.

But Michael Cohen is a snake and a liar!

Yes, yes. I know. I think that was what Governor Christie was getting at, when he suggested Cohen wasn’t exactly “trustworthy.”

There is ample opportunity to point out where Cohen has been caught in a lie.

That being said, I want to take the time to remind everyone that David Pecker, longtime Trump pal and CEO of American Media, Inc., the company that owns The National Enquirer, has also agreed to cooperate fully with prosecutors.

Pecker, according to multiple sources, has a lockbox full of dirt on Trump (as well as other celebrities), as part of a move called “catch and kill.”

The company would pay women (like Karen McDougal) for the exclusive rights to their stories, and then would bury those stories, to protect the rich and connected, like Trump.

We haven’t heard what Pecker knows about the payoff of Daniels an McDougal, but we do know he’s been cooperating.

Christie went on to say he doesn’t think there’s much for Trump to fear from Mueller’s investigation.

Christie said that he’s maintained that “the Michael Cohen situation is much more perilous for the White House than was [special counsel] Bob Mueller.”

“There’s no Russia collusion, there’s been no proof of Russia collusion, and I don’t think there’s gonna be,” Christie said. “This is the stuff that should be much more concerning to the White House legal team and that language is very very strong and very definitive so the prosecutors better have corroboration.”

You may be right, but when we take what we already know, and who we know is cooperating, I’m going to say prosecutors know what they’re doing, so the president and his supporters had better buckle up for what comes next.