President Donald Trump finally weighed in the case of his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday for crimes including campaign finance violations that Cohen said were committed at Trump’s direction. In court, Cohen lamented his “blind loyalty” to Trump, which led him down a “path of darkness.” On Thursday, however, Trump said that as his attorney, Cohen was the one providing counsel to Trump, and should have known better if plans they discussed ran afoul of the law.
“I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law,” Trump said in a tweet. “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.”
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……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018
Trump went on to say that he himself did nothing wrong, and that the campaign finance crimes to which Cohen pleaded guilty probably weren’t even crimes at all, or even civil wrongs. The president posited that Cohen only took pleas to them in order to get “a much reduced prison sentence” in his case, which involved several other offenses having nothing to do with Trump or the campaign.
….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…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018
….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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018
This seems to go against what the Judge William Pauley III said in court prior to announcing Cohen’s sentence. The judge specifically said that the nature of Cohen’s crimes justified a “significant term of imprisonment.”
One thing the judge said in court that is very much in line with Trump’s claims however, was that “as a lawyer, Mr. Cohen should have known better.”
[Image via Fox News screengrab]
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