'Start Here': Cohen consequences, Rep. Hunter indicted and politicizing Mollie Tibbetts. What you need to know to start your day.

It's Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018. Here are some of the stories we're talking about on ABC News' new daily podcast, "Start Here."

1. Cohen implicates Trump in guilty plea over hush money

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's longtime lawyer and fixer, implicated his former boss in a crime by telling a federal judge he paid off porn star Stormy Daniels "in coordination with and at the direction of" then-candidate Trump.

The White House insisted yesterday that no crime was committed by the president, but could Trump still be in legal jeopardy?

ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega, ABC News' Mike Levine and ABC News Deputy Political Director MaryAlice Parks look at how Cohen's guilty plea will affect Washington.

"Start Here" is a daily ABC News podcast hosted by Brad Mielke featuring original reporting on stories that are driving the national conversation. Listen for FREE on the ABC News app, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play Music, iHeartRadio -- or ask Alexa: "Play 'Start Here.'"

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2. Hunter dismisses corruption charges

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and his wife stand accused of using campaign funds for more than $250,000 in personal expenses, including a trip to Italy, tuition for their kids and thousands of dollars in retail purchases. Despite pressure to step down or give up his committee assignments, Hunter's remained defiant, dismissing the charges as "politically-motivated."

ABC News' Ben Siegel, who covers Congress, tells us: "He's connecting it to what President Trump has been calling the 'witch hunt' against him by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, that the Justice Department is full of politically biased individuals who are trying to take him out."

3. Mollie Tibbetts murder case fuels immigration debate

The death of 20-year-old college student Mollie Tibbetts has become a national lightning rod after authorities arrested an undocumented immigrant and accused him of murder.

ABC News' Alex Perez joins us from Brooklyn, Iowa: "People here are pretty strong, a lot of them, about their feelings, saying had the immigration system not been broken, had it been fixed, had it been different perhaps Christian Rivera would not have been in this country."