Michael Cohen launches into president in explosive first interview since sentencing

Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and ‘fixer’ Michael Cohen has sat down for a tell-all interview with Good Morning America which will air in full on ABC at 7am ET this morning. 

Cohen told ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos that ‘of course’ the President knew it was wrong to pay off two women, Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels, who claim they had affairs with Trump.

The explosive interview is Cohen’s first since he was sentenced to three years in prison for the McDougal and Daniels campaign finance violations among other crimes. 

He did not mince his words, issuing the people of America a stark warning.

‘Here is the truth,’ he said. ‘People of the United States of America, people of the world, don’t believe what he is saying. The man doesn’t tell the truth. And it is sad that I should take responsibility for his dirty deeds.’ 

Cohen: ‘People of the United States of America, people of the world, don’t believe what [Trump] is saying’ 

Cohen (right) was sentenced to three years in jail on Wednesday for multiple crimes sat down for an interview on Good Morning America with George Stephanopoulos (left) in which they discussed his sentencing and Trump

Cohen (right) was sentenced to three years in jail on Wednesday for multiple crimes sat down for an interview on Good Morning America with George Stephanopoulos (left) in which they discussed his sentencing and Trump

Cohen also said he is ‘angry at himself’ for helping Trump because he ‘gave loyalty to someone who, truthfully, does not deserve loyalty,’ he said. 

Cohen was sentenced to three years in jail on Wednesday for multiple crimes – including bank fraud, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress. 

However he does not have to report to prison in Otisville – around 70 miles from New York City – to begin his 36-month sentence until March 6. 

In the GMA interview, Cohen tells his side of the story and defends himself against the President, who has publicly attacked him numerous times since he pleaded guilty to a ‘veritable smorgasbord’ of charges in August.  

AMI gave $150,000 to Playboy model Karen McDougal (pictured)

Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign and banking violations after he created a shell company to transfer $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels (right), who claims she had an affair with Trump

Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign and banking violations after he created a shell company to transfer $130,000 to Stormy Daniels (right), who claims she had an affair with Trump. AMI gave $150,000 to model Karen McDougal (left) who claims she had an affair with Trump 

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Governors elects in the Cabinet Room at the White House on December 13

Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, exits the United States Courthouse after sentencing at the Manhattan borough of New York City

President Trump (left) and his former lawyer Michael Cohen (right) have traded blows since Cohen pleaded guilty to crimes that implicate the President

Trump distanced himself from the $150,000 deal in an interview with Fox News on Thursday

Trump distanced himself from the $150,000 deal in an interview with Fox News on Thursday

The crime that is most perilous for Trump – who is said to be ‘privately fretting over impeachment’ is Cohen’s campaign violation payments.

Prosecutors say a figure identified as ‘Individual-1’ – Trump – ‘directed’ Cohen to make a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an affair with the president.

Trump initially denied any payment, but on Thursday put forward the defense that it was his lawyer’s job to know the law.

‘I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law,’ Trump wrote on Twitter yesterday. ‘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.’ 

But Cohen told Stephanopoulos: ‘I don’t think there is anybody that believes that.

‘First of all, nothing at the Trump organization was ever done unless it was run through Mr. Trump. He directed me to make the payments, he directed me to become involved in these matters.’

 

 

Trump said Cohen agreed to plead guilty before a federal judge 'in order to embarrass the president and get a much reduced prison sentence,' after his former lawyer was sentenced to three years in jail

Trump said Cohen agreed to plead guilty before a federal judge ‘in order to embarrass the president and get a much reduced prison sentence,’ after his former lawyer was sentenced to three years in jail

Trump then went on to say Cohen agreed to plead guilty before a federal judge ‘in order to embarrass the president and get a much reduced prison sentence.’ 

In his GMA interview, Cohen hit back saying: ‘It is absolutely not true. Under no circumstances do I want to embarrass the president. He knows the truth. I know the truth.’

The President’s Twitter outburst also appeared to dangle a hint that Cohen’s family members will be facing prosecution in the future. 

Cohen, who was engaged in the taxi medallion business with his father-in-law, furiously slammed this comment, telling Stephanopoulos: ‘Instead of him taking responsibility for his actions, what does he do? He attacks my family.’ 

Trump’s previous attacks on Cohen, in which he called his former trusted fixer ‘a weak person and not a very smart person’ as well as a ‘rat’ were repeatedly mentioned during the lawyer’s dramatic trial.

Cohen also gave an emotional explanation of what it took to provide information against the President. 

Michael Cohen’s weepy statements in court

I stand before your honor humbly and painfully aware that we are here for one reason.

I take full responsibility for each act that I pled guilty to: The personal ones to me and those involving the President of the United States of America.

This may seem hard to believe, but today is one of the most meaningful days of my life.

I have been living in personal and mental incarceration ever since the day that I accepted the offer to work for a real estate mogul whose business acumen that I deeply admired. In fact, I now know there is little to admire.

Recently the president tweeted a statement calling me weak and it was correct, but for a much different reason than he was implying. It was because time and time again I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds.

I blame myself for the conduct which has brought me here today and it was my own weakness and a blind loyalty to this man that led me to choose a path of darkness over light.

Seeing the unbearable pain that my associations and my actions have brought to my entire family – this is why I did not enter into a cooperation agreement.

I do not need a cooperation agreement in place to do the right thing. I will continue to cooperate.

I want to apologize to the people of the United States. You deserve to know the truth and lying to you was unjust.

I am committed to proving my integrity and making sure history will not remember me as the villain in his story.

I’m truly sorry and I promise I will be better.

He told the courtroom: ‘I have been living in personal and mental incarceration ever since the day that I accepted the offer to work for a real estate mogul whose business acumen I deeply admired. In fact, I now know there is little to admire.’

‘Recently the president tweeted a statement calling me weak and it was correct, but for a much different reason than he was implying. It was because time and time again I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds.’  

‘I blame myself for the conduct which has brought me here today and it was my own weakness and a blind loyalty to this man that led me to choose a path of darkness over light,’ Cohen added.

The President said in an interview with Fox News yesterday that he made a mistake in trusting Cohen, saying: ‘I hire usually good people.’

‘I liked him and he was a lawyer,’ he said. ‘In retrospect I made a mistake.’  

In the same interview Trump also made a jibe at Cohen by claiming former national security advisor Michael Flynn – also caught up in the Mueller investigation into possible Russian interference in Trump’s election – faces no jail time because ‘He’s a tougher kind of a guy than Cohen.’ 

Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, appeared on CBS ‘This Morning’ and suggested his client still had more information to share. 

Davis quoted back a term used by Mueller’s sentencing memo, which argued that Cohen’s help had been ‘core’ to his investigation. 

Davis also told Vanity Fair that this interview could make Cohen the ‘next generation of what John Dean was to Richard Nixon’.

Dean was Nixon’s former White House Counsel who covered up the Watergate scandal and then struck a deal with prosecutors to become a key witness in exchange for reduce jail time. He is regarded as instrumental in Nixon’s downfall. 

‘Go to Congress, and turn the television cameras on, and tell us all that you know about Donald Trump over the years. Not just about the Mueller investigation—over the years,’ Davis told Vanity Fair. 

Trump, meanwhile has reportedly told allies in his closest circle that he is alarmed by the possibility of impeachment, despite publicly stating that he isn’t concerned. 

On Thursday, the president was revealed to be the third man who attended a 2015 meeting with Cohen and American Media Inc. boss David Pecker where they forged a plan to keep Trump’s alleged affairs out of the press. 

David Pecker

Allen Weisselberg

‘The entire question about whether the president committed an impeachable offense now hinges on the testimony of two men: David Pecker (left) and Allen Weisselberg (right), both cooperating witnesses in the SDNY investigation,’ a friend of Trump’s claims

The meeting, which was referenced in a letter federal prosecutors sent to National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc, included an offer by the company CEO to ‘help deal with negative stories about the presidential candidate’s relationships with women’.

With Trump identified as having been there, it means he was present when a plan was developed that ultimately led to Cohen pleading guilty to a felony and getting three years in jail.

It also led to a cooperation agreement with prosecutors in which Pecker – one of Trump’s former best friends – would not be prosecuted ‘for any crimes’ related to campaign finance law resulting from the meeting.

Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign and banking violations after he created a shell company to transfer $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an affair with Trump.

AMI gave $150,000 to Playboy model Karen McDougal, who says she had a 10-month affair with the president, and Cohen was involved in discussions relating to this.

That could leave Trump as the odd man out if he continues his denials that he did nothing wrong and never ‘directed’ Cohen to break the law.

Trump is also now the only person in the room who claims that the hush money wasn’t used to impact the outcome of the election. 

The documents revealing the deal make clear that Pecker agreed to flip – and is still cooperating with federal authorities.

They do not say who he and his company flipped on, raising the possibility that he has handed over information on his former friend, Trump.

The news comes amid a spike in talk in Washington about the possibility that the president could be charged with directing a federal crime, even if it is ultimately held that he is immune from such charges due to his office and the Justice Department’s prior interpretation of the Constitution that sitting presidents cannot be indicted, only impeached. 

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk