The government should have prosecuted AMI

When a Manhattan judge sentenced Michael Cohen to three years in prison, the Justice Department issued what appeared to be a standard press release trumpeting the events. The announcement, however, carried an unexpected subhead, stating that the Justice Department had also entered into a nonprosecution agreement with American Media Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer. The news was a powerful example of the strength of the government’s investigation—making clear the severity of the potential campaign finance case against President Donald Trump and securing an unusual admission of electoral interference by a national corporation. But it also exposed the Justice Department’s weakest quality—its inability to impose significant (or in this case any) penalties on corporations. While its message to Trump is strong, the case tells America’s corporate entities that they can do what they want—they have little to fear from DOJ.

A Sept. 20 letter detailed the nonprosecution agreement between the Justice Department and AMI, which both parties agreed to keep secret until after the November midterm elections. The agreement recounted a yearlong scheme to use AMI’s corporate activity to assist Trump’s election. According to the agreement, AMI’s chairman and CEO, David Pecker, made an August 2015 offer to Cohen and an unnamed campaign official to use AMI to identify and resolve potential negative stories about then-candidate Trump.