THE TIGHTENING NOOSE:

The two Friday memos include a number of new revelations about Trump's actions during the 2018 campaign to insulate himself from news of his affairs, and about efforts by Russian representatives to court the Trump campaign.

New York prosecutors more clearly tied the six-figure hush payments to two women--adult film star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal--directly to Trump, noting that Cohen admitted that he issued the illegal funds "at the direction of" the future president. This means that federal prosecutors believe Trump directed Cohen to break the law, which itself can be a criminal act. The filing also describes how the president's company was involved in the payments.

Mueller's memo details a 2015 conversation between Cohen and a Russian national "who claimed to be a 'trusted person' in the Russian Federation." This person offered the Trump campaign "political synergy" and "synergy on a government level" and repeatedly proposed a meeting between Trump and Putin, noting that the meeting could have a "phenomenal" impact on politics, and also on Trump's Moscow tower venture. The person boasted there is "no bigger warranty in any project" than Putin's buy-in. Cohen told the special counsel he did not take this person up on their invitation, in part because he was already working on the Moscow tower with another contact who had Russian-government connections.

The memo also notes that Cohen shared with them useful information about "discrete Russia-related matters" that Cohen had gleaned by way of regular conversations with Trump Organization executives during the election. This appears to further contradict Trump's statements during the campaign that he had no business interests in Russia while running for president.

One of the details that immediately jumped off the pages of Southern District of New York (SDNY) prosecutors' Friday sentencing memo for Michael Cohen has to do with "Individual-1," also known as President Donald Trump.

Prosecutors were pretty open about who Individual-1 was from the start and how he came to "direct" Cohen to commit felonies:

On approximately June 16, 2015, Individual-1, for whom Cohen worked at the time, began an ultimately successful campaign for President of the United States. Cohen had no formal title with the campaign, but had a campaign email address, and, at various times advised the campaign, including on matters of interest to the press. Cohen also made media appearances as a surrogate and supporter of Individual-1. During the campaign, Cohen played a central role in two similar schemes to purchase the rights to stories - each from women who claimed to have had an affair with Individual-1 - so as to suppress the stories and thereby prevent them from influencing the election. With respect to both payments, Cohen acted with the intent to influence the 2016 presidential election. Cohen coordinated his actions with one or more members of the campaign, including through meetings and phone calls, about the fact, nature, and timing of the payments.

Then came to key line: "In particular, and as Cohen himself has now admitted, with respect to both payments, he acted in coordination with and at the direction of Individual-1."

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