Donald Trump Is Putting All The Blame On Michael Cohen For This Legal Drama
By this point, it's no secret that President Donald Trump isn't afraid to speak his mind, no matter the circumstance. Over the past few months, tensions have certainly been building between him and his former attorney, and they haven't been helped along by the latter's decision to flip on the president and tell prosecutors what he knows about Trump's finances. But now, Donald Trump's response to Michael Cohen's sentencing might be his shadiest yet. It looks like this bromance won't be rekindled anytime soon.
On Thursday, Dec. 13, Donald Trump took to Twitter to share his thoughts on Michael Cohen's sentencing on Wednesday, Dec. 12. The former Trump confidante received three years in prison for his numerous guilty pleas, in which he implicated the president. In his tweets, Trump claims that he "never directed Cohen to break the law," and said that the charges were meant to "embarrass the president." Elite Daily reached out to the White House for further comment about Cohen's sentence and Trump's response, but did not hear back in time for publication.
He wrote,
I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law. It is called “advice of counsel,” and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. That is why they get paid. Despite that many campaign finance lawyers have strongly... stated that I did nothing wrong with respect to campaign finance laws, if they even apply, because this was not campaign finance. Cohen was guilty on many charges unrelated to me, but he plead to two campaign charges which were not criminal and of which he probably was not... guilty even on a civil basis. Those charges were just agreed to by him in order to embarrass the president and get a much reduced prison sentence, which he did-including the fact that his family was temporarily let off the hook. As a lawyer, Michael has great liability to me!
Trump's comments about Cohen come just a day after his former attorney was sentenced to three years in prison for financial fraud, and two months for lying to Congress. Cohen will serve both sentences concurrently. He also saw financial hits, with $500,000 in forfeiture, $1.4 million in restitution, and fines of $100,000, per NPR. In a statement, his spokesperson Lanny Davis tells Elite Daily that Cohen had "owned up to his mistakes and fully cooperated" with the investigation into possible collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia, and that he would continue to cooperate.
Prior to Cohen's official sentencing, he and his lawyers requested no prison time for the former attorney. While in court, Cohen and his team consistently pointed the blame towards Trump, claiming Cohen's "fierce loyalty" to the president is what prompted their client's actions. In addition, Cohen spoke to the court about his guilty pleas and said that he did what he did for Trump in order to "cover up his dirty deeds." Elite Daily reached out to the White House for comment about Cohen's "dirty deeds" statement at the time, but did not hear back.
Cohen's court statements are almost certainly a big reason why Trump decided to go on his Twitter rant, but this isn't the first time the president has had some unsavory comments towards his former attorney. Over the past few months, Trump has referred to Cohen as "weak," "a liar," and has thrown shade at his law career.
Even though this name-calling game has been entertaining to watch from an outside perspective, who knows what Cohen's recent sentencing might mean for the current president. One thing is for certain: Cohen can look forward to three years away from the spotlight and Trump's drama.
