We begin today’s roundup with Margaret Hartmann and her take on the latest revelations that the president’s attorney apparently sold access to the president for millions of dollars:
One GOP strategist described his pitch to CNN: “I don’t know who’s been representing you, but you should fire them all. I’m the guy you should hire. I’m closest to the president. I’m his personal lawyer.”
It’s unclear how true this was even before Cohen was excluded from the White House. While he reportedly spoke to Trump several times per day during the transition, one source said Trump “never talked to Cohen about substantive matters” that corporations might be interested in.
Statements from several of Cohen’s clients suggest they pieced this together, but not before paying him millions of dollars.
Here is Paul Waldman’s analysis at The Week:
The truth is that Trump has indeed changed the culture of corruption in Washington, in two main ways.
First, he has made it significantly worse. There have been no alterations to the usual paths for the wealthy and powerful to exercise influence; instead, Trump has greased the wheels. If you're in the administration and you aren't someone who used to represent the corporations you're now regulating (and you'll return to after your stint in "public" service), then at the very least you're ideologically devoted to the principle of enhancing corporate power. [...]
The second way Trump has changed the culture of corruption has been to make sure that he and his are the ones wetting their beaks. I'm reminded of something Adam Serwer wrote after former Washington mayor Marion Barry died: While he was widely (and correctly) viewed as a deeply corrupt figure, "Barry didn't bring corruption to D.C. He changed who benefited from it." Likewise, Trump has enabled his people to benefit from the corruption that already existed. Some of the hottest influence-peddlers in town are now not those who understand Capitol Hill or the way agencies operate, but those who have a personal connection to Trump.