WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s promises of cash and threats of withheld benefits based on whether Republicans retain control of Congress or win specific races next month constitute bribery and extortion, former prosecutors said, and could be grounds for his impeachment.

“It is bribery. It is also impeachable,” said Ty Cobb, a former federal prosecutor who later served in Trump’s first-term White House Counsel’s office. “Bribery, extortion and kickbacks is how Trump has done business for 50 years.”

The promises and threats at issue have been coming directly from Trump as he visits primarily Republican areas of Republican states in his campaign to keep Congress in GOP hands for the final two years of his term. With Democrats likely to take control of the House in January following next month’s midterms, some members of the party are looking at possible impeachable offenses committed by the president ― and the pre-midterms threats and promises could soon join the list.

The main benefit offered to his audiences is $5,000 in cash on the condition that voters do as he tells them and vote Republican, an offer he first made at the GOP’s “midterm convention” in September and now repeats at every campaign stop.

“If you elect a Republican House and Republican Senate on Nov. 3, you get $5,000. If we lose, you get absolutely nothing,” he told rally attendees in Dalton, Georgia, on Oct. 16.

“If we lose, you get nothing. You’re going to get nothing. If we lose, you get nothing,” he said four days later in Greenville, North Carolina.

And in some states, Trump has said that benefits that would otherwise come their way as part of the normal federal government process would be denied if voters do not heed his demand.

At an Oct. 4 rally in Vandalia, Ohio, Trump told attendees that their state would likely beat out other states and get a planned U.S. Space Academy, which would train students for roles at NASA and the Space Force — but only “if we win the midterms.”

In Highland Heights, Kentucky, on Oct. 17, Trump said the Defense Department would spend $100 million to revitalize a pharmaceutical plant in the state “if the Republicans win.”

Two days later, in Park City, Kansas, Trump said he would allow the permanent, year-round use of gasoline with 15% ethanol — a boon to corn farmers — on one condition: that voters reelect Republican Sen. Roger Marshall.

“With Roger Marshall in the Senate, we will make year-round E15 permanent,” he said. “But if Adam Hamilton is in, I’m not doing it.”

And the following night, Oct. 20, in Greenville, North Carolina, Trump made $1 billion to settle water-contamination health claims by veterans of Camp Lejeune, a Marine Corps base in the state, contingent on a GOP midterm victory.

“If we win the House and the Senate, I am directing the Department of Justice to settle all remaining legitimate claims as soon as possible,” he said. “So, if we don’t win, there’s no money. If we do win, you’re getting it.”

Norm Eisen, who served in the Barack Obama White House as the top ethics lawyer, called the $5,000 cash promise “coercive vote-buying” and said the Camp Lejeune threat was even worse.

“Trump’s latest threat to withhold funds for claims filed by those injured by the toxic, polluted water at Camp Lejeune is akin to mob-style extortion,” he said. “Weaponizing public funds to buy the American electorate is immoral, undemocratic, and almost certainly unlawful.”

Trump’s White House did not respond to HuffPost queries, but Trump himself on Thursday repeated the Camp Lejeune demand. “If the Republicans don’t do well, I would say maybe they won’t get their money,” he said en route to yet another rally, this time in Iowa.

Implicated by Trump’s statements are two federal criminal statutes: One, known as the Hobbs Act, prohibits demanding something of value in exchange for an official act. The other prohibits making or offering to make “an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote.” Both are punishable by fines and prison time.

While Justice Department guidelines have for years blocked criminal investigations into a sitting president, such actions could constitute impeachable offenses, should the House choose to pursue such an effort.

Glenn Kirschner, another former federal prosecutor, said Trump could also be subject to criminal prosecution after he leaves office and that the 2024 U.S. Supreme Court decision giving presidents broad immunity for official acts would not apply because Trump has been acting in the capacity of a political advocate for Republicans, not as president for the whole country.

“He can argue whatever he pleases. I would say this is more akin to the act of a candidate or the leader of a political party. Feels more analogous to his acts on and around Jan. 6,” he said.

Trump was indicted for his actions leading up to his coup attempt that day in 2021 to remain in power despite having lost the 2020 election, but the court proceedings were delayed because of the Supreme Court immunity ruling to the point where he had won the presidency back that November before a trial could take place.

Trump’s threats and promises, for what it’s worth, do not appear to be moving the needle politically: His party trails badly in generic ballot surveys, and just 22% of likely voters believe Trump would actually deliver on his promised $5,000 checks, according to a YouGov/The Economist survey conducted last month.

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