Donald Trump faces mounting pressure as Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation moves closer to the White House. 

Still reeling from the double blow of his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleading guilty to campaign finance violations during the president’s 2016 campaign, and his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, being convicted of eight financial crimes, Mr Trump struggled to contain the fallout on Wednesday. 

Mr Cohen had implicated Mr Trump in his crimes of paying “hush money” to women who claim the president had extramarital affairs with them as part of a guilty plea deal agreed with Mr Mueller’s team, and his legal team looked to dig a deeper hole for Mr Trump in a number of television interviews. 

Mr Cohen’s lawyer Lanny Davis suggested that Mr Trump’s former confidant had information “of interest” to Mr Mueller and his probe into Russian election meddling in 2016 and any possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and Moscow.  He said that Mr Cohen would be happy to speak to investigators even though his plea deal did not explicitly call for co-operation. 

“Michael Cohen knows information that would be of interest to the special counsel, in my opinion, regarding both knowledge about a conspiracy to corrupt American democracy by the Russians, and the failure to report that knowledge to the FBI,” Mr Davis said told the MSNBC cable channel.  Mr Davis has also set up a GoFundMe page which has raised thousands of dollars for Mr Cohen's legal fees and to help him "tell the truth about Donald Trump". 

Mr Davis repeated his accusation that Mr Trump had committed a crime in allegedly directing the payments to payments to the two women - adult film star Stormy Daniels and former playboy model Karen McDougal.  Mr Trump has denied any allegations of affairs. 

“[Mr Cohen] said under oath the most damaging, definitive information yesterday – that the president of the United States directed him to commit a crime,” Mr Davis said in a separate interview on NBC’s Today show. 

Critics were quick to raise the spectre of impeachment over the payments, which Mr Cohen said were made to try and influence the presidential election that lead Mr Trump to the Oval Office. “ We have to act,” said Representative Al Green, who has previously brought impeachments papers to the House floor.  However the Democrat leader in the House, Nancy Pelosi suggested that impeachment was “not a priority” for the party even if they win back control of Congress from the Republicans in crucial midterm in November. 

However, Democrats were against making some political capital, members of the Senate demanded that upcoming confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh be delayed over the crisis, with some calling Mr Trump an "co-conspirator." 

The charges against Mr Cohen, the two campaign finance violations and six other bank and tax crimes, and the separate guilty verdict for Mr Manafort stunned Washington.  They have also dented Mr Trump’s repeated claims that the Mueller investigation is a “witch hunt”. 

The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Show all 17 1 /17 The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Paul Manafort Mr Manafort is a Republican strategist and former Trump campaign manager.  He resigned from that post over questions about his extensive lobbying overseas, including in Ukraine where he represented pro-Russian interests.  Mr Manafort turned himself in at FBI headquarters to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team on Oct 30, 2017, after he was indicted under seal on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts.  Getty The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rick Gates Mr Gates joined the Trump team in spring 2016, and served as a top aide until he left to work at the Republican National Committee after the departure of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.  Mr Gates' had previously worked on several presidential campaigns, on international political campaigns in Europe and Africa, and had 15 years of political or financial experience with multinational firms, according to his bio.  Mr Gates was indicted alongside Mr Manafort by special counsel Robert Mueller's team on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts.  AP The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation George Papadopoulos George Papadopoulos was a former foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign, having joined around March 2016.  Mr Papadopoulos plead guilty to federal charges for lying to the FBI as a part of a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.  Mr Papadopoulos claimed in an interview with the FBI that he had made contacts with Russian sources before joining the Trump campaign, but he actually began working with them after joining the team.  Mr Papadopoulos allegedly took a meeting with a professor in London who reportedly told him that Russians had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton.  The professor also allegedly introduced Mr Papadopoulos to a Russian who was said to have close ties to officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Mr Papadopoulos also allegedly was in contact with a woman whom he incorrectly described in one email to others in the campaign as the "niece" to Russian President Vladimir Putin.  Twitter The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Donald Trump Jr The President's eldest son met with a Russian lawyer - Natalia Veselnitskaya - on 9 June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York.  He said in an initial statement that the meeting was about Russia halting adoptions of its children by US citizens.  Then, he said it was regarding the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers.  In a final statement, Mr Trump Jr released a chain of emails that revealed he took the meeting in hopes of getting information Ms Veselnitskaya had about Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia.  He and the President called it standard "opposition research" in the course of campaigning and that no information came from the meeting.  The meeting was set up by an intermediary, Rob Goldstone.  Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort were also at the same meeting.  Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jared Kushner Mr Kushner is President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a key adviser to the White House.  He met with a Russian banker appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December.  Mr Kushner has said he did so in his role as an adviser to Mr Trump while the bank says he did so as a private developer.  Mr Kushner has also volunteered to testify in the Senate about his role helping to arrange meetings between Trump advisers and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak.  Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rob Goldstone Former tabloid journalist and now music publicist Rob Goldstone is a contact of the Trump family through the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which took place in Moscow.  In June 2016, he wrote to Donald Trump Jr offering a meeting with a Russian lawyer, Natalya Veselnitskaya, who had information about Hillary Clinton.  Mr Goldstone was the intermediary for Russian pop star Emin Agalaraov and his father, real estate magnate Aras, who played a role in putting on the 2013 pageant.  In an email chain released by Mr Trump Jr, Mr Goldstone seemed to indicate Russian government's support of Donald Trump's campaign.  AP images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Aras and Emin Agalarov Aras Agalarov (R) is a wealthy Moscow-based real estate magnate and son Emin (L) is a pop star.  Both played a role in putting on the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow.  They allegedly had information about Hillary Clinton and offered that information to the Trump campaign through a lawyer with whom they had worked with, Natalia Veselnitskaya, and music publicist Rob Goldstone.  Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Natalia Veselnitskaya Natalia Veselnitskaya is a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin.  She has worked on real estate issues and reportedly counted the FSB as a client in the past.  She has ties to a Trump family connection, real estate magnate Aras Agalarov, who had helped set up the Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant which took place in Moscow.  Ms Veselnitskaya met with Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort in Trump Tower on 9 June 2016 but denies the allegation that she went there promising information on Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia.  She contends that the meeting was about the US adoptions of Russian children being stopped by Moscow as a reaction to the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers.  Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Mike Flynn Mr Flynn was named as Trump's national security adviser but was forced to resign from his post for inappropriate communication with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak.  He had misrepresented a conversation he had with Mr Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence, telling him wrongly that he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian.  Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sergey Kislyak Mr Kislyak, the former longtime Russian ambassador to the US, is at the centre of the web said to connect President Donald Trump's campaign with Russia.  Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Roger Stone Mr Stone is a former Trump adviser who worked on the political campaigns of Richard Nixon, George HW Bush, and Ronald Reagan.  Mr Stone claimed repeatedly in the final months of the campaign that he had backchannel communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that he knew the group was going to dump damaging documents to the campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton - which did happen.  Mr Stone also had contacts with the hacker Guccier 2.0 on Twitter, who claimed to have hacked the DNC and is linked to Russian intelligence services.  Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeff Sessions The US attorney general was forced to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation after it was learned that he had lied about meeting with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak.  Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Carter Page Mr Page is a former advisor to the Trump campaign and has a background working as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch.  Mr Page met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.  Mr Page had invested in oil companies connected to Russia and had admitted that US Russia sanctions had hurt his bottom line.  Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeffrey "JD" Gorden Mr Gordon met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republian National Convention to discuss how the US and Russia could work together to combat Islamist extremism should then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump win the election.  The meeting came days before a massive leak of DNC emails that has been connected to Russia.  Creative Commons The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation James Comey Mr Comey was fired from his post as head of the FBI by President Donald Trump.  The timing of Mr Comey's firing raised questions around whether or not the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign may have played a role in the decision.  Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Preet Bharara Mr Bahara refused, alongside 46 other US district attorney's across the country, to resign once President Donald Trump took office after previous assurances from Mr Trump that he would keep his job.  Mr Bahara had been heading up several investigations including one into one of President Donald Trump's favorite cable television channels Fox News.  Several investigations would lead back to that district, too, including those into Mr Trump's campaign ties to Russia, and Mr Trump's assertion that Trump Tower was wiretapped on orders from his predecessor.  Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sally Yates Ms Yates, a former Deputy Attorney General, was running the Justice Department while President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general awaited confirmation.  Ms Yates was later fired by Mr Trump from her temporary post over her refusal to implement Mr Trump's first travel ban.  She had also warned the White House about potential ties former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to Russia after discovering those ties during the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's connections to Russia.  Getty Images

Republicans and Democrats alike have called on Mr Trump not to open himself up to abuse of power allegations by pardoning either Mr Manafort or Mr Cohen.  Mr Trump has called the verdict against Mr Manafort “unfair”.  Although a pardon for Mr Cohen seems unlikely after Mr Trump lashed out at his former long-time confidant via Twitter, accusing his former fixer of making up “stories in order to get a ‘deal’” from federal prosecutors. 

Mr Cohen’s lawyer, Mr Davis, said a pardon would not be accepted, even if Mr Trump were to offer one. “ Not only is he not hoping for, he would not accept a pardon,” Mr Davis said. “He considers a pardon from somebody who has acted so corruptly as president to be something he would never accept.” 

Aware of the outcry about the verdicts and any possible pardons, Mr Trump and the White House were on the defensive for most of the day. 

Mr Trump sought to dismiss two of the counts of campaign finance violations that Cohen had pleaded guilty to, saying in a tweet that they “are not a crime.” 

He elaborated during an interview with the conservative network Fox News due to be broadcast on Thursday.  Asked if he knew about the payments, Mr Trump said: “They didn’t come out of the campaign, they came from me.  And I tweeted about it.  You know, I put — I don’t know if you know but I tweeted about the payments.  But they didn’t come out of campaign. 

“In fact, my first question when I heard about it was did they come out of the campaign because that could be a little dicey.  And they didn’t come out of the campaign and that’s big.  But they weren’t – that’s not a – it’s not even a campaign violation.  If you look at President Obama, he had a massive campaign violation but he had a different attorney general and they viewed it a lot differently.” 

Mr Trump said he knew of the payments made by Mr Cohen “later on” but did not elaborate.  After first denying that he knew anything about Mr Cohen's actions, Mr Trump acknowledged earlier this year that he reimbursed Mr Cohen for the payments.  In July, CNN released an audio recording reportedly made by Cohen that features the lawyer and Trump in September 2016 discussing whether to buy the rights to the story of Ms McDougal. 

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders labelled accusations that Mr Trump had lied about the Cohen payments "a ridiculous accusation"

Mr Trump has insisted that he only found out about the payments after they were made, despite the release of a taped conversation by Mr Davis from September 2016 in which Trump and Cohen can be heard discussing a deal to pay former Playboy model Karen McDougal for her story of an alleged 2006 affair. 

Press conference following Michael Cohen's charge with campaign finance violations, fraud and tax evasion

"The president has done nothing wrong.  There are no charges against him," Ms Sanders repeated. 

Asked if Mr Trump was concerned about what Mr Cohen might tell Mr Mueller, Ms Sanders replied: “I don’t think the president is concerned at all.  He knows that he did nothing wrong and that there was no collusion.” 

But there seems little sign of the dark cloud over the White House disappearing.  While Ms Sanders would not entertain questions about a potential pardon for Mr Manafort, he is due to be sentenced next week.  Mr Mueller’s team will also have to decide whether to re-charge him over the 10 counts the jury could not decide a verdict on, while he also faces a second, larger trial, in September.