Thread by @vicenews

“Based on what we know so far, would you dive into an investigation? Hell yeah. We’ve done investigations on a lot less than this.”

Here are 7 crimes Trump might have committed in this Ukraine scandal bit.ly/2o27gB4

“There’s a strong argument that the president’s conduct violates federal campaign finance law, although I wouldn’t say it’s a slam-dunk case,” said Richard Hasen, a specialist on election law at the University of California Irvine. bit.ly/2o27gB4

Trump’s interaction with the Ukrainian president could potentially count as soliciting a bribe, former prosecutors said. bit.ly/2o27gB4

“The same law that makes it a crime to offer a bribe also makes it a crime to ask for one,” said Patrick Cotter, a former New York prosecutor who helped bring down the mobster John Gotti. bit.ly/2o27gB4

Trump’s behavior toward Ukraine could count as honest services fraud, according to Barbara McQuade, Detroit’s former top federal prosecutor. bit.ly/2o27gB4

The whistleblower said Trump personally issued instructions to suspend almost $400 million worth of security aid to Ukraine, shortly before pressing Zelensky to “look into” Biden. bit.ly/2o27gB4

After the whistleblower’s complaint emerged, Trump called the source “almost a spy,” before apparently making a dark allusion to capital punishment for treason. bit.ly/2o27gB4

But Trump has argued in the past that some of his most incendiary public comments were really just jokes, and he could do so here as well, said Sandick. bit.ly/2o27gB4

At the advice of White House lawyers, officials took the unorthodox step of moving records of the call into a separate system for protecting highly classified documents. bit.ly/2o27gB4

“That was very unusual,” said Larry Pfeiffer, whose career in intelligence included serving as White House Situation Room director in the Obama administration. bit.ly/2o27gB4

“A conspiracy is just folks getting together to commit a crime,” said Cotter. “You could potentially have conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, conspiracy to obstruct justice or conspiracy to solicit a bribe.” bit.ly/2o27gB4