Donald Trump has been warned he faces the "very real prospect" of jail time as the fallout from the bombshell publication of court filings intensifies.
As the probe into Mr Trump's conduct both before and during office escalates, House Democrats are openly raising the prospect of impeachment or prison time for the US president if it is proved he directed illegal hush-money payments to women.
Jerry Nadler, the incoming chairman of the house judiciary committee, described the details in prosecutors' filings in the case of Mr Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, as evidence Mr Trump was "at the centre of a massive fraud".
Trump faces 'very real prospect of jail time' over new court filings, new House Intelligence chairman says
“There’s a very real prospect that on the day Donald Trump leaves office, the Justice Department may indict him — that he may be the first president in quite some time to face the very real prospect of jail time,” California Democratic congressman Adam Schiff, incoming chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday.
Trump presidency must end with 'landslide' defeat, James Comey says in strongest attack yet
“All of us should use every breath we have to make sure the lies stop on January 20, 2021,” Mr Comey told an audience at a public event in New York City on Sunday night.
The former FBI has become an outspoken critic of Mr Trump since he was fired by the president in May 2017. Although he stopped short of backing impeachment proceedings, Mr Comey said he desperately wanted to see a “landslide” victory for Mr Trump’s opponent at the next presidential election.
The high-profile hiring search comes at a pivotal time as the president looks to prepare his White House for the twin challenges of securing his re-election and fending off inquiries once Democrats gain control of the House next year.
He weighing at least four people for the job, but Mr Trump's top pick for the job, Nick Ayers, is out of the running and the president is now soliciting input on at least four individuals, including Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney and House Republican Mark Meadows, the chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
Mr Ayers, who is chief of staff to Mike Pence, was seen as the favorite for the job when Mr Trump announced on Saturday Mr Kelly would leave around year's end.
FBI investigated four Americans over Russia links, Comey reveals
Mr Comey also appeared to suggest the investigations were looking into ties between Russia and US president Donald Trump’s election campaign.
He did not identify the people being investigated but said Mr Trump was not among them.
Trump directed Michael Cohen to make illegal hush money payments, prosecutors say
Michael Cohen had said that as the election neared, Mr Trump directed payments to two women who claimed they had affairs with Trump.
But, in a new memorandum arguing for a prison term for Mr Cohen, prosecutors in Manhattan said he “acted in coordination and at the direction of” an unnamed individual", clearly referring to Mr Trump.
Trump condemned by 12 former CIA chiefs over revocation of John Brennan's security clearance
The US president on Wednesday removed the ability for Mr Brennan – himself a former CIA director – to access sensitive government information, citing the Russia investigation as the reason behind the move.
But in an extraordinary joint statement on Thursday evening, the former US security officials said they felt "compelled" to respond to the "unprecedented" decision by the Mr Trump, whose allegations against Mr Brennan they branded "baseless".
At least 14 Trump associates 'spoke to Russians during presidential campaign'
Again and again and again, over the course of Donald Trump's 18-month campaign for the presidency, Russian citizens made contact with his closest family and friends, as well as figures on the periphery of his orbit.
Some offered to help his campaign and his real estate business. Some offered dirt on his Democratic opponent. Repeatedly, Russian nationals suggested Mr Trump should hold a peace-making sit-down with Vladimir Putin - and offered to broker such a summit...
On Friday: Prosecutors alleged in a court filing that Mr Trump directed his former lawyer Michael Cohen to make hush money payments to two women who allege they had affairs with Mr Trump more than a decade ago. The department of justice say the payments made by Mr Cohen were illegal.
On Saturday: John Kelly, Mr Trump's chief-of-staff, officially confirmed he would leave the post at the end of the year. It comes amid reports the pair had fallen out in recent months.
On Sunday: Nick Ayers, Mike Pence's chief-of-staff and reportedly Mr Trump's desired replacement for Mr Kelly, announced he was quitting his post and the Trump administration.
A reminder that Trump's golf resorts were decorated with fake Time Magazine covers
The IndependentPresident’s mocked-up memento celebrates his tenure as host of hit reality TV show The Apprentice, which spawned the catchphrase 'You’re fired!'
Macron tells Trump to stop interfering in France's domestic affairs
Foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Mr Trump should “leave our nation be”, after the American leader blamed the unrest on efforts to fight climate change.
“We do not take domestic American politics into account and we want that to be reciprocated,” he told French TV channel LCI in an interview on Sunday...
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"They would be impeachable offences," Mr Nadler said.
"There's a very real prospect that on the day Donald Trump leaves office, the Justice Department may indict him, that he may be the first president in quite some time to face the real prospect of jail time," said Adam Schiff, the incoming chairman of the House intelligence committee.
"The bigger pardon question may come down the road as the next president has to determine whether to pardon Donald Trump."
In the filings, prosecutors in New York for the first time link Mr Trump to a federal crime of illegal payments to buy the silence of two women during the 2016 campaign.
When asked what usually happened after such a filing, James Comey, the sacked former FBI director, told MSNBC: “That person would be in serious jeopardy of being charged.”
Special counsel Robert Mueller's office also laid out previously undisclosed contacts between Trump associates and Russian intermediaries and suggested the Kremlin aimed early on to influence Mr Trump and his Republican campaign by playing to both his political and personal business interests.
Mr Trump has denied wrongdoing and has compared the investigations to a "witch hunt."
Mr Nadler said it was too early to say whether Congress would pursue impeachment proceedings based on the illegal payments alone because lawmakers would need to weigh the gravity of the offence to justify "overturning" the 2016 election.
Mr Nadler and other lawmakers said on Sunday that they would await additional details from Mr Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference and possible coordination with the Trump campaign to determine the extent of Mr Trump's misconduct.
Regarding the illegal payments, "whether they are important enough to justify an impeachment is a different question, but certainly they'd be impeachable offences because even though they were committed before the president became president, they were committed in the service of fraudulently obtaining the office," Mr Nadler said.
Mr Mueller has not said when he will complete a report of any findings, and it isn't clear that any such report would be made available to Congress. That would be up to the attorney general. Mr Trump on Friday said he would nominate former attorney general William Barr to the post to succeed Jeff Sessions.
Mr Nadler indicated that Democrats, who will control the House in January, will step up their own investigations. He said Congress, the Justice Department and the special counsel needed to dig deeper into the allegations, which included questions about whether Mr Trump lied about his business arrangements with Russians and about possible obstruction of justice.
"The new Congress will not try to shield the president," he said. "We will try to get to the bottom of this, in order to serve the American people and to stop this massive conspiracy — this massive fraud on the American people."
Mr Schiff also stressed a need to wait "until we see the full picture." He has previously indicated his panel would seek to look into the Trump family's business ties with Russia.
"I think we also need to see this as a part of a broader pattern of potential misconduct by the president, and it's that broad pattern, I think, that will lead us to a conclusion about whether it rises to the level to warrant removal from office," Mr Schiff said.
In the legal filings, the Justice Department stopped short of accusing Mr Trump of directly committing a crime. But it said Mr Trump told Mr Cohen to make illegal payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, both of whom claimed to have had affairs with Mr Trump more than a decade ago.
In separate filings, Mr Mueller's team detail how Mr Cohen spoke to a Russian who "claimed to be a 'trusted person' in the Russian Federation who could offer the campaign 'political synergy' and 'synergy on a government level."'
Mr Cohen said he never followed up on that meeting. Mr Mueller's team also said former campaign chairman Paul Manafort lied to them about his contacts with a Russian associate and Trump administration officials, including in 2018.
Republican senator Marco Rubio called the latest filings "relevant" in judging Mr Trump's fitness for office but said lawmakers need more information to render judgment. He also warned the White House about considering a pardon for Mr Manafort, saying such a step could trigger congressional debate about limiting a president's pardon powers.
Such a move would be "a terrible mistake," Mr Rubio said. "Pardons should be used judiciously. They're used for cases with extraordinary circumstances."
Senator Angus King, a member of the Senate intelligence committee, cautioned against a rush to impeachment, which he said citizens could interpret as "political revenge and a coup against the president",
"The best way to solve a problem like this, to me, is elections," Mr King said. "I'm a conservative when it comes to impeachment. I think it's a last resort and only when the evidence is clear of a really substantial legal violation. We may get there, but we're not there now."
Democratic senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut urged Mr Mueller to "show his cards soon" so that Congress can make a determination early next year on whether to act on impeachment.
"Let's be clear: We have reached a new level in the investigation," Mr Murphy said. "It's important for Congress to get all of the underlying facts and data and evidence that the special counsel has."
Mr Nadler spoke on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday, Mr Rubio was on CNN and ABC's This Week, and Mr Schiff appeared on CBS' Face the Nation. Mr Murphy spoke on ABC, and Mr King was on NBC's Meet the Press.
Additional reporting by AP
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