Michael Cohen alleges that the president directed him to break the law

ON THE afternoon of August 21st, Duncan Hunter, a Republican congressman from California, was indicted for filing false campaign reports and spending $250,000 of campaign funds on personal expenses. There were family trips to Italy and Hawaii; shots of tequila at a bachelor party; and “Hawaii shorts” that his wife suggested he should buy at a golf pro shop, so they could disguise the purchase as “balls for the wounded warriors”. Ordinarily, juicy details such as these could occupy cable news for a cycle or two. But they barely rated a mention on Tuesday’s shows, because that was the afternoon on which Robert Mueller—the special counsel charged with investigating possible links between Russia and the Trump campaign—landed his hardest punches yet.

In Virginia a jury found Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, guilty on eight counts of filing false income-tax returns, failing to disclose foreign bank accounts and bank fraud. He faces up to 80 years in prison, as well as a second trial on similar charges starting on September 17th.