Tuesday was arguably the worst day of Donald Trump’s presidency so far.
His former personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to arranging payments to two women who allege they had affairs with Mr Trump “in coordination and at the direction” of the president himself.
And his former campaign manager Paul Manafort was found guilty by a jury of tax and bank fraud.
Could this spell the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency, or will the president shake off his legal troubles?
What did Michael Cohen do?
Cohen pleaded guilty to eight charges in total, including evading income tax and making false statements to a bank to obtain credit.
Most importantly for Mr Trump, Cohen admitted causing an unlawful campaign contribution and making an excessive campaign contribution.
Essentially, Cohen arranged to pay off adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Both women said they had affairs with Mr Trump while he was married to his current wife Melania, although he denies it.
Cohen said he arranged the payments, which count as illegal campaign donations because they were made “for the principal purpose of influencing the election”, at the direction of an unnamed “candidate”, who can only be Donald Trump.
At the plea hearing, Cohen was warned he faced up to 65 years in prison, but the deal suggests that Cohen’s real sentence will be around 4 to 5 years.
Why does it matter?
This is the first time someone in Donald Trump’s circle has personally implicated the president in wrongdoing.
Mr Cohen’s lawyer Lanny Davis has hinted that Cohen wants to see Trump face charges too, tweeting: “If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn’t they be a crime for Donald Trump?”
Mr Davis also tweeted: “This is a new beginning for Michael Cohen, his chance to tell the ‘rest of the story’.”
Cohen has already said that Trump knew in advance about a meeting with a Russian lawyer in Trump Tower before the election.
This contradicts statements made by the president and testimony given under oath by his son Donald Jr to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
What did Paul Manafort do?
Donald Trump’s former campaign manager has been found guilty of filing false tax returns, failing to report foreign bank accounts and lying to obtain bank loans.
The charges relate to Manafort’s work as a lobbyist for Ukraine’s pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych.
A Virginia jury found him guilty on eight charges, and the judge declared a mistrial on ten outstanding charges, meaning Manafort could face another trial.
He is separately due to stand trial on another indictment in Washington DC in September.
Why does it matter?
It’s the first time someone being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been found guilty by a jury.
The Special Counsel is empowered to investigate “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump, and any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation”.
Others who have been charged by Mr Mueller – like former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn – have reached plea deals with federal prosecutors.
Did it really have nothing to do with Donald Trump or Russian collusion?
The president responded to the news of Manafort’s conviction by saying: “It doesn’t involve me”. He added: “This has nothing to do with Russian collusion.”
It’s true that charges in Manafort’s trial all concerned his behaviour before he joined Donald Trump’s team in March 2016.
It’s true that no evidence emerged in this trial to suggest that Manafort or any other Trump campaign official knowingly colluded with Russia as it attempted to influence the 2016 presidential election in his favour.
But the Manafort trial hinged on his dealings with a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine that was close to the Kremlin.
Paul Manafort connects to Russia in other ways too.
An FBI search warrant application revealed that a company controlled by Manafort and his wife received a $10m loan from Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch with ties to the Kremlin.
Manafort worked for Deripaska in the mid-2000s and leaked emails show him offering to give the oligarch “private briefings” after he joined the Trump campaign.
Manafort was present at the meeting on 9 June, 2016 at Trump Tower, where a Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, met several members of the Trump campaign team.
Donald Trump Jr eventually revealed that he agreed to the meeting after being offered damaging information on Hillary Clinton by the Russian government.
Finally, Manafort had a close aide called Konstantin Kilimnik. He is widely reported to be the man referred to as “person A” in court documents which allege he has ties to Russian intelligence.
Could Mr Trump issue pardons?
Mr Manafort, 69, faces a lengthy prison sentence and was warned before the beginning of the trial that he faced the possibility of dying in prison.
A US president can grant a pardon or commute a sentence in respect of federal crimes, but there would be significant political repercussions for Mr Trump.
President Trump has pardoned conservatives like controversial former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio and Dick Cheney aide Scooter Libby, sparking accusations from opponents that he is using pardons for political purposes.
But he has not yet used his executive powers to pardon any of his associates who have already been convicted in connection with the Trump/Russia investigation.
Asked last week whether he would step in to free Manafort, the president said: “I don’t talk about that.”
Is this the end of Donald Trump’s legal worries?
Far from it. The question of whether the president personally tried to obstruct justice by sacking former FBI director James Comey still hangs over the Mueller probe.
President Trump is also being sued for defamation by former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos, who alleges he kissed and groped her without her consent.
And the New York state attorney general is suing the Donald J Trump charitable foundation, President Trump and three of his children for alleged violations of state charity laws.
Michael Flynn, former foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos and others are known to be co-operating with the Mueller investigation.
For our explainer on who’s who in the Trump/Russia investigation, see here.
Could the president be impeached?
Impeachment has been used very rarely to try to remove US presidents accused of serious crimes.
Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were acquitted, while Richard Nixon resigned before proceedings began.
The process is complex and relies on political opposition to the president.
First a president must be charged with treason, bribery or “other high crimes and misdemeanours” (it’s up to Congress to decide what that means).
A simple majority in the House of Representatives starts the impeachment process. Then the president is tried by the Senate and will only be removed from office if convicted by a two-thirds majority.
