1. A damning turn for President Trump and his associates:

Federal prosecutors say he directed illegal payments during the presidential campaign to help prevent a possible sex scandal.

The president’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, has said Mr. Trump, above, directed payments to women who claimed they had affairs with Mr. Trump. But in a memo arguing for a prison term for Mr. Cohen, prosecutors in Manhattan said Mr. Cohen “acted in coordination and at the direction of an unnamed individual” — a clear reference to Mr. Trump.

Separately, the special counsel’s office said that Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman, had “told multiple discernible lies” about his contacts with Trump administration officials and his interactions with a Russian linked to Moscow’s intelligence services.