GONNA HAVE TO CLOSE NR TOO:

 I want to focus on a different document: the special counsel's sentencing memo outlining Cohen's cooperation with the Special Counsel's Office. This document may well outline the roadmap for an impeachment count against the president that is based on recent presidential precedent.

The Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon articles of impeachment (Nixon resigned before he was impeached) contain common obstruction-of-justice claims -- namely that the president participated in an effort to provide false testimony to investigators.

For example, the Nixon articles of impeachment accused the president of

approving, condoning, acquiescing in, and counselling witnesses with respect to the giving of false or misleading statements to lawfully authorized investigative officers and employees of the United States and false or misleading testimony in duly instituted judicial and congressional proceedings.

The Clinton articles of impeachment repeatedly allege that the president "corruptly encouraged" witnesses to make false statements in a federal civil action and that he "made false and misleading statements to potential witnesses in a Federal grand jury proceeding in order to corruptly influence the testimony of those witnesses."

If you read the special counsel's Cohen memo, you'll note that the special counsel takes pains to note that Cohen's false statements to investigators were "deliberate and premeditated" and "did not spring spontaneously from a line of examination or a heated colloquy during a congressional hearing." His lies were in a "written submission" and a "prepared opening statement." These lies were allegedly told to "minimize the links" between the Moscow Trump Tower project and Trump himself.

Also -- and this is crucial -- the memo notes that Cohen has been cooperating in describing the "circumstances of preparing and circulating his response to the congressional inquiries" [emphasis added].

In plain English, this means that it is highly likely that senior Trump officials reviewed Cohen's prepared, false testimony before he lied to Congress.

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