It was the biggest news day of the summer. President Trump's former attorney implicated him in two campaign finance felonies and a jury found Trump's former campaign chairman guilty on eight counts of bank and tax fraud in one head-spinning hour of court action on Tuesday with huge implications for the presidency. The president's self-described "fixer," Michael Cohen, who has worked for Trump since 2007 and once said he'd take a bullet for him, pleaded guilty on eight counts in total, including tax evasion, defrauding a financial institution and making excessive campaign contributions. Under oath, Cohen admitted to making six-figure payments to bury claims from two women who said they had affairs with Trump. Without naming Trump, Cohen told the court that a candidate for federal office instructed him to make the payments and that it was an effort to influence the 2016 presidential election. Cohen's lawyer later revealed what everyone already knew – the candidate was Trump and Cohen has fully turned on him. "Michael Cohen took this step today so that his family can move on to the next chapter. This is Michael fulfilling his promise made on July 2nd to put his family and country first and tell the truth about Donald Trump. Today he stood up and testified under oath that Donald Trump directed him to commit a crime by making payments to two women for the principal purpose of influencing an election. If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn't they be a crime for Donald Trump?" – Cohen's attorney Lanny Davis. (Davis is also an opinion contributor to The Hill.) Meanwhile, in a Virginia courtroom, a jury found Paul Manafort guilty on eight of the 18 charges he faced pertaining to bank and tax fraud. That case was the first that special counsel Robert Mueller brought to trial. The Memo: Cohen, Manafort hurricanes hit Trump. NBC News: Democrats ready with detailed rapid-response plan should Trump try to purge Mueller, halt probe. Here's everything you need to know about both cases, which broke wide open while Trump was on Air Force One en route to a campaign rally in West Virginia: The Cohen case Cohen suddenly presents a very real and immediate legal risk to the president. Read his plea deal HERE. Cohen admitted to making an excessive campaign contribution on Oct. 27, 2016. That's the same date that Cohen paid adult-film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 as part of a nondisclosure agreement over an affair Daniels claims to have had with Trump. Cohen also admitted to making an illegal campaign contribution of $150,000 to a media company to bury a story about an alleged affair between Playboy model Karen McDougal and Trump. That's how much Cohen paid the National Enquirer, which had obtained the rights to McDougal's story. "What [Cohen] did was he worked to pay money to silence two women who had information that he believed would be detrimental to the 2016 campaign, to the candidate and the campaign." – Deputy U.S. Attorney Robert Khuzami, who is leading the case. Cohen is in big trouble for allegedly hiding $4 million from the IRS and for making false statements to obtain bank loans. He faces a maximum of 35 years in prison on those felony charges, although his agreement with prosecutors would limit his jail time to between 46 and 63 months, if the judge complies. But it's the felony campaign contribution charges that will dominate discourse in Washington over the coming months. Cohen faces a maximum of five years behind bars on each of the two counts. The president's legal team will argue that the payments had nothing to do with the election – that they were instead about killing embarrassing stories pertaining to the president's personal life. Trump denies the affairs took place. Indeed, Cohen's guilty pleas fall under a controversial area of campaign finance law. The most recent similar comparison might be former Democratic vice presidential nominee and presidential candidate John Edwards. In that instance, the government failed to convince a jury that payments connected to his affair were considered regulated campaign contributions or expenditures. Trump's legal team could also argue that a sitting president cannot be indicted, although that is Justice Department guidance, not hard-and-fast law. "We're in a Watergate moment." – Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a former state prosecutor, arguing on CNN that a sitting president can be indicted if the trial is postponed until after he's finished serving in office. Debate over those matters will rage amid speculation that Cohen's illegal personal business dealings will lead back to the president or that he'll be looking to cut a deal with Mueller to save his own skin. "Mr. Cohen has knowledge on certain subjects that should be of interest to the special counsel and is more than happy to tell the special counsel all that he knows." - Lanny Davis Mueller appears to have passed on the case, sending it along to the Southern District of New York to handle. Cohen's plea deal does not presently include any outside cooperation with investigators. But Tuesday's developments also open the president to potential new civil suits. Daniels and her attorney Michael Avenatti are threatening to use Cohen's guilty plea to secure a deposition from the president. 
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Fox News anchor Ed Henry noted that was the path that led to former President Clinton's impeachment. "Let's not forget what happened in the Clinton administration. It was not just criminal cases that were problematic, it was private civil suits and depositions and allegations of lying under oath in a private civil suit with Paula Jones that led to impeachment." – Henry The Manafort case Trump is, at least for now, insulated from Manafort's conviction, although the appearance of his former campaign chairman getting convicted and potentially sent to prison for the rest of his life will be damaging for his party ahead of the midterm elections. A jury found Manafort guilty on five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of hiding a foreign account. The judge declared a mistrial on the 10 other charges against him, all of which pre-date his time with the campaign. The Hill: Trump says Manafort verdict "nothing to do with Russia collusion." Manafort, 69, faces a maximum of 80 years in prison (The Hill). Next up: Manafort and his former business associate Konstantin Kilimnik go on trial in Washington, D.C., in September on charges of illegal foreign lobbying. The GOP's midterm prospects Democrats were vowing to cast Republicans as the party of corruption and abuse even before Tuesday's developments in the Manafort and Cohen cases. This won't help: The Hill: GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and wife indicted for allegedly misusing campaign funds. The California secretary of State says Hunter must stay on the ballot, potentially imperiling another GOP-held seat in November. Trump won Hunter's district by 15 points in 2016 but now Republicans have another seat to worry about. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) called the charges "deeply serious" stripped Hunter of his positions on the Transportation and Infrastructure, House Armed Services and Education committees. Hunter's legal woes come weeks after Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), another top Trump ally, was indicted on insider trading charges. Analysis from around the web Dan Balz: In wake of two convictions, "many more months of uncertainty" for Trump. Franklin Foer: Blind confidence couldn't save Paul Manafort. Noah Bookbinder: What the Manafort verdict means. S.A. Miller: Manafort, Cohen developments fuel partisan furor over Mueller probe. | 
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