President Donald Trump on Sunday assailed his former personal attorney Michael Cohen as a ‘rat’ for turning on him and wrongly claimed the FBI broke into his former lawyer’s office.
He also went on a Twitter rant against a range of political rivals as the pressure increases on the president amid reports the investigations against him are wrapping up.
‘Remember, Michael Cohen only became a ‘Rat’ after the FBI did something which was absolutely unthinkable & unheard of until the Witch Hunt was illegally started. They BROKE INTO AN ATTORNEY’S OFFICE! Why didn’t they break into the DNC to get the Server, or Crooked’s office?,’ Trump tweeted.
In April, FBI agents used a series of search warrants to conduct a legal raid on Cohen’s office, apartment, and hotel room, where he had been staying.
President Trump (left) and his former lawyer Michael Cohen (right) have traded blows since Cohen pleaded guilty to crimes that implicate the President
Trump attacked Cohen again on Sunday morning as a ‘rat’
The evidence gathered in that raid has been used in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and in a separate probe conducted by the Southern District of New York in its prosecution of Cohen.
It’s not the first time the president has turned his fury on federal agents. He claimed the raid on Cohen was illegal shortly after it was conducted and has repeatedly said he was the victim of a ‘witch hunt.’
The president on Sunday also sought to turn the attention away from himself by attacking several of his political rivals: Cohen, Hillary Clinton, the FBI and two former FBI employees.
The president attempted to turn the spotlight on the FBI’s investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email server when he wrote: ‘Why didn’t they break into the DNC to get the Server, or Crooked’s office?’
Crooked is a term he uses in reference to Clinton. He calls her ‘Crooked Hillary Clinton’ during his campaign rallies.
Trump attempted to turn the spotlight on the FBI’s investigation of Hillary Clinton’s (left) email server which then-FBI director James Comey (right) recommended no charges be filed
Trump also railed against the text messages between former FBI agent Peter Strzok (left) and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page (right)
The Justice Department’s inspector general, in a report released Thursday, found no evidence the FBI intentionally destroyed text messages between Strzok and Page
The FBI investigated Clinton’s use of a private email server and found that, while she was ‘extremely careless,’ then-FBI director James Comey recommended that no charges be filed.
A subsequent report from the Department of Justice’s watchdog found the FBI was not political in its investigation of Clinton, a charge some Republicans had made particularly after text messages were revealed between former FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page.
The two agents – who were working on the investigation and having an affair – had texted of their hopes Trump would lose the election.
Trump has also railed about the text messages between Strzok and Page.
‘So where are all the missing Text messages between fired FBI agents Peter S and the lovely Lisa Page, his lover. Just reported that they have been erased and wiped clean. What an outrage as the totally compromised and conflicted Witch Hunt moves ever so slowly forward. Want them!,’ he wrote on Sunday.
The Justice Department’s inspector general, in a report released Thursday, found no evidence the FBI intentionally destroyed text messages between Strzok and Page.
The inspector general faulted an FBI-wide software failure that has resulted in large portions of FBI text messages not being archived, the Associated Press fact checker found.
The report examined a gap in messages from December 2016 through May 2017 from Strzok and Page’s phones. The FBI ultimately managed to recover thousands of the messages.
Some congressional Republicans had suggested the messages were intentionally deleted. The report from DoJ said there was no evidence of that.
On Wednesday, Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in jail for multiple crimes – including bank fraud, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress.
Trump has tweeted fast and furious against his former personal attorney since that sentencing.
Former Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen (left) and American Media CEO David Pecker (right) are cooperating with prosecutors
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
He’s also argued it was Cohen’s job – as his lawyer – to know what was legal and what wasn’t.
The pressure appears to be on the White House as reports indicated Mueller is close to wrapping up his probe, which is examining whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to affect the 2016 election.
In a separate investigation, the Southern District of New York looked into the payoffs to two women who claimed to have affairs with Trump, which he denied.
Evidence in both matters was said to be found in the April raid on Cohen’s office.
In an interview with ‘Good Morning America’ on Friday, Cohen expressed his wish to ‘not be the villain’ of the saga and defended himself against the President, who has publicly attacked him numerous times since he pleaded guilty to a ‘veritable smorgasbord’ of charges in August.
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,.
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 Thursday. ‘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.’
In an interview with ‘Good Morning America’ on Friday, Cohen expressed his wish to ‘not be the villain’ of the saga
Trump has been on a twitter rant since Cohen’s sentencing
Trump also tweeted out the words of people defending him
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 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 Sunday he also tweeted the words of people defending him.
‘Judge Ken Starr, former Solicitor Generel & Independent Counsel, just stated that, after two years, “there is no evidence or proof of collusion” & further that “there is no evidence that there was a campaign financing violation involving the President.” Thank you Judge. @FoxNews,’ he wrote.
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.
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.
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 anything wrong and never ‘directed’ Cohen to break the law and he is now the only person in the room who claims that the hush money wasn’t used to impact the outcome of the election.
Pecker agreed to flip – and is still cooperating with federal authorities.
In a statement, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District said it agreed not to prosecute AMI after the company admitted ‘that it made the $150,000 payment in concert with a candidate’s presidential campaign, and in order to ensure that the woman did not publicize damaging allegations about the candidate before the 2016 presidential election’.
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.