Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, isn’t buying the president’s defense of his alleged role in hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal.
“Of course” Trump knew the payments were wrong, Cohen told ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Cohen also said that Trump had him coordinate the payments, which came weeks before Election Day in 2016, because he was worried about the potential impact of revelations about his alleged trysts with the women. “Yes, he was very concerned about how this would affect the election,” Cohen said.
The interview marked Cohen’s first comments to the media since he was sentenced Wednesday to three years in federal prison for charges including campaign-finance violations, tax fraud and lying to Congress.
Prosecutors and Cohen said Trump directed the lawyer to handle the payments, which violated federal campaign-finance laws. After the sentencing, Trump attacked Cohen on social media and in an interview with Fox News, saying that he “never directed” Cohen to break the law – and that the campaign-finance charges were intended to embarrass the president.
In a case brought by federal prosecutors by the Southern District of New York, Cohen pleaded guilty to most of the charges in August, when he claimed that he paid off the two women, who allege having sexual relationships with the president a decade ago, in coordination with Trump. The White House has denied the affairs happened.
Then, in late November, Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in a deal with special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating the Russian attacks on the 2016 election and potential coordination between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
