Michael D'Antonio is author of the book "Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success" (St. Martin's Press). The opinions expressed in this commentary are his. View more opinion articles on CNN.

(CNN) Federal prosecutors bagged two swamp monsters on Tuesday, and the slime is oozing toward President Trump.

The culture of corruption that has enveloped Trump for years, in his serial bankruptcies and shady dealings and scandals like Trump University, now has a criminal quality affirmed in two federal courts. This is what Trump does, this is the company he keeps, and these are the practices now closing in on him.

Nobody outside Trump's family is closer to him than Michael Cohen, who affirmed in the Southern District of New York that he made illegal campaign contributions "at the direction" of then-candidate Trump (according to court papers, Cohen implicated, possibly, a second person involved in the campaign).

Cohen spent more than a decade in Trump's employ as a self-described "fixer" who used tough talk to bully the boss's critics and opponents. (He tried this with me while I was writing a book about Trump, so I know how he operated.)

Now he is admitting that he conspired with the President to break the law. He seems destined to serve prison time for the offenses.

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