Trump-Cohen crisis: President struggles to contain fallout as lawyer Lanny Davis says Cohen could talk to Mueller investigation
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has addressed the escalating crisis besetting his presidency surrounding revelations from his former lawyer and a run of legal troubles that could see him investigated as part of a criminal case.
Following his former personal attorney and 'fixer' Michael Cohen's guilty pleas to a string of crimes - one of which he said the then-Republican candidate directed him to commit - the president tweeted:"If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!"
The outburst follows a day of major legal troubles unprecedented since he entered the White House in 2017 — and there may be rocky waters ahead after a fresh subpoena for Mr Cohen on Wednesday indicated investigators may be circling in on the Trump Foundation as well. In addition, Mr Trump has seen numerous calls from Democrats saying that Mr Trump's recent Supreme Court nomination should be stalled in light of Mr Cohen's statements, and the lawyer for the former Trump fixer further ratcheted up the pressure, and said his client would not accept a pardon from the president to reduce his sentence.
"Michael Cohen knows information that would be of interest to the special counsel, in my opinion, regarding both knowledge about a conspiracy to corrupt American democracy by Russians, and the failure to report that information to the FBI," Mr Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, said on MSNBC. Mr Davis continued to say his client had set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for legal fees, and to help him "tell the truth about Donald Trump".
Within minutes of each other in separate courts on Tuesday, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort was found guilty on tax and bank fraud charges, while Mr Cohen pleaded guilty to a range of charges.
Mr Trump did not address the public after the latest developments were announced, but opted to spend a rally in West Virginia avoiding discussion of either Mr Cohen or Mr Manafort, and instead addressing issues ranging from his mother's turkeys, exploding windmills and imaginary Chinese drivers.
During the White House press briefing on Wednesday, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders pushed back on talk that the events on Tuesday related to the president. She argued that Mr Manafort's charges had nothing to do with Mr Trump or his 2016 campaign, and said that it was "a ridiculous accusation" when asked if the president lied about having known about the payments made by Mr Cohen.
The president has previously denied having affairs with either of the women involved in the Cohen case. And he has strenuously objected to any suggestion that he is connected to any crimes revealed by the Mueller probe, which is looking into possible illegal collusion with the Russians.
Please allow a moment for the live blog to load.
Mr Trump will be appearing on his favourite news programme, Fox and Friends, to discuss the Cohen case tomorrow morning.
In a teaser clip of the interview, Mr Trump says the payments Mr Cohen used to silence various women came directly from the president's personal funds – not his campaign fund.
“It’s not even a campaign violation," Mr Trump says in the clip. Mr Cohen pleaded guilty to making an excessive campaign contribution on Tuesday.
Mr Cohen appears to have deleted a 2015 tweet claiming Hillary Clinton would soon be sent to prison.
The tweet, which is still retrievable in cached form, declared: “@HillaryClinton when you go to prison for defrauding America and perjury, your room and board will be free!”
The tweet appeared to have been deleted as of Wednesday afternoon, after it began recirculating in light of Mr Cohen's guilty plea.
Democrats in Congress are demanding a fresh round of hearings on Donald Trump's presidency after yesterday's events.
Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House oversight committee, has called on the committee chairman to hold a hearing with sworn testimony from Mr Cohen.
Representative Jerrold Nadler, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, asked Chairman Bob Goodlatte to hold hearings on Mr Trump's attacks on the Justice Department and FBI.
Congress, Mr Nadler said, is obligated to "respond to this culture of corruption that has taken hold under Mr Trump and Republican congressional majorities".
The fallout continues for Donald Trump over Michael Cohen’s illegal contributions to his 2016 presidential campaign, as an increasing number of lawmakers distance themselves from the White House.
Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, has said the president "should be indicted," not just impeached, if his former personal lawyer's claims are true that he worked "at the direction" of then-candidate Mr Trump.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders kicked off her Wednesday press briefing with the first questions addressing Michael Cohen.
“Just because Michael Cohen made a plea deal that doesn’t implicate the president in anything,” Ms Sanders said. “The president in this matter has done nothing wrong and there are no charges against him.”
The press secretary appeared to deflect additional questions regarding the legal cases of Mr Cohen and Paul Manafort, Mr Trump’s former presidential campaign chairman.
“I’m not going to get into the back and forth,” Ms Sanders said, repeating her claims that the president is not implicated in Mr Cohen’s legal troubles.
The first question in White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ Wednesday press briefing addressed Michael Cohen.
“Just because Michael Cohen made a plea deal that doesn’t implicate the president in anything,” Ms Sanders said. “The president in this matter has done nothing wrong and there are no charges against him.”
The press secretary appeared to deflect additional questions regarding the legal cases of Mr Cohen and Paul Manafort, Mr Trump’s former presidential campaign chairman.
“I’m not going to get into the back and forth,” Ms Sanders said, repeating her claims that the president is not implicated in Mr Cohen’s legal troubles.
A reporter asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders about lawmakers withholding meetings with Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh after Michael Cohen plead guilty to campaign finance violations.
“This is a desperate and pathetic attempt by Democrats to obstruct a highly qualified nominee,” she responded.
When asked if the president felt betrayed by his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, Ms Sanders said "I don’t think the president is concerned at all, he knows that he did nothing wrong and that there was no collision”.
“What I can tell you about this is that the president did nothing wrong,” she added.
↵
Here is the moment from Wednesday’s press briefing when White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended Donald Trump, claiming he is not implicated in his former personal lawyer’s criminal actions.
Michael Cohen plead guilty to providing illegal campaign contributions to the president, saying he worked “at the direction” of the federal candidate, referring to Mr Trump.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders skirted around the crisis regarding Mr Manafort and Mr Cohen at today’s press briefing.
She was asked repeatedly what Mr Trump made of his former campaign manager’s guilty verdict on eight counts of tax evasion and bank fraud as well as his former personal attorney Michael Cohen voluntarily pleading guilty to similar counts.
Ms Sanders answered, repeatedly that the president “did nothing wrong…there are no charges against him”. She added: “Just because [Mr Cohen] made a plea deal, it does not” mean the president has been implicated.
She also did not directly answer a question about why Mr Trump had tweeted he felt “very badly” for Mr Manafort, even after the guilty verdict.
Ms Sanders also noted the president has “chosen to remain uninvolved” in the FBI investigation into alleged collusion between his 2016 campaign team and Russian officials, despite his many tweets calling it a “witch hunt” and expressing his views on the various plea deals and Mr Manafort’s trial.
A subpoena has reportedly been issued to Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen in New York, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
The subpoena is allegedly in relation to the state’s ongoing investigation into the Trump Foundation. A representative for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo confirmed the subpoena on Wednesday afternoon.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments