White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said repeatedly on Wednesday that President Donald Trump ‘did nothing wrong’ and there ‘are no charges against him’ as the administration faced questions for the first time since Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts of federal offenses.
She also slammed talk of impeaching the president, saying it was an issue going to be used by Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections.
‘The idea of an impeachment is, frankly, a sad attempt by Democrats; it’s the only message they seem to have going into the midterms,’ she said. ‘And I think it’s another great reminder of why Americans should support other like minded candidates like the president.’
She charged Democrats with only being interested in ‘cheap political stunts.’
As the president has said, we’ve stated many times, he did nothing wrong. There are no charges against him,’ Sanders said repeatedly at her briefing
President Trump also took to Twitter to offer his own defense
There have been increasing fears among Republicans that the guilty plea from Cohen and the convictions of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort could hurt the party at the ballot box in November.
Concerns that a Democratic-led Congress could instigate impeachment charges against Trump could be used by the president as a rallying cry to his base and get voters to the polls.
But Sanders’ new mantra of Trump doing ‘nothing wrong’ and that he was not being charged with a crime came as the president defended himself against allegations from Cohen that the former fixer committed campaign finance fraud at Trump’s direction.
‘As the president has said, we’ve stated many times, he did nothing wrong. There are no charges against him,’ Sanders said repeatedly from the White House podium.
‘Just because Michael Cohen made a plea deal doesn’t mean that that implicates the president on anything,’ she noted.
Sanders also said there has been no talk inside the White House about pardoning Manafort, who Trump praised in a tweet Wednesday morning as a ‘brave man.’
‘The Manafort case doesn’t have anything to do with the president, doesn’t have anything to do with his campaign and doesn’t have anything to do with the White House,’ she said.
Additionally, she would not address questions that dug into the details of when Trump learned about the payment to porn star Stormy Daniels or if any other payments were made to women.
‘I’m not going to get in the back and forth details,’ she said.
And when asked if the President has lied to the American people, Sanders responded: ‘That’s a ridiculous accusation.’
Sanders was being asked about an April 2018 conversation Trump had with reporters on Air Force One, where he denied knowing about the $130,000 payment to Daniels, who alleged an affair with the president, which Trump has denied.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump wasn’t concerned about Michael Cohen (above) or what he could tell the special counsel
Sanders also said there had been no talk about a pardon for Paul Manafort
‘No,’ the president said when asked if he knew about the payment.
‘You’ll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. You’ll have to ask Michael,’ Trump added at the time.
And when asked if he knew where Cohen got the money, Trump said: ‘No I don’t know.’
In May, Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani said Trump had reimbursed Cohen for the payment, which was made to Daniels in October 2016 during the heart of the presidential campaign.
In July, CNN obtained a tape with Cohen and Trump talking about a payment to former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal, who also said she had affair with Trump, which he has denied. That conversation was taped in September 2016.
Cohen, who served as Trump’s personal attorney and worked in his Trump Organization, pleaded guilty to eight counts that included tax fraud and campaign finance violations.
Trump was not mentioned by name in United States District Court in Manhattan on Tuesday but Cohen told a judge the payments to the two women were ‘at the direction of the candidate,’ and ‘for the principal purpose of influencing the election’ for president in 2016.
Cohen ’caused and made the payments described herein in order to influence the 2016 presidential election,’ his plea agreement with federal prosecutors reads. ‘In so doing, he coordinated with one or more members of the campaign, including through meetings and phone calls, about the fact, nature, and timing of the payments.’
Daniels was paid $130,000 from Cohen directly and McDougal was paid from a publisher.
Sanders dismissed any talk Trump is worried about Cohen, whose lawyer said he was willing to talk to special counsel Robert Mueller about his Russia investigation.
‘I don’t think the president is concerned at all. He knows he’s done nothing wrong. There was no collusion,’ Sanders said.
Cohen is prepared to tell investigators ‘all he knows’ about the President and the ‘conspiracy to collude and corrupt the 2016 election,’ his attorney Lanny Davis said.
Trump said the campaign finance violations Cohen claims to have committed at the direction are ‘not a crime’ as he laid out his own defense on Wednesday morning in tweets.
Trump pointed to his predecessor, Barack Obama’s, campaign finance violations in 2012, and argued that they were ‘easily settled’ and did not result in jail time.
‘Michael Cohen plead guilty to two counts of campaign finance violations that are not a crime. President Obama had a big campaign finance violation and it was easily settled!’ he tweeted.
In the final 20 days of the 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama’s campaign didn’t file 48-hour notices with the FEC regarding some campaign donations over $1,000. The FEC fined the campaign $375,000, which it paid.
Trump also told Fox News campaign money wasn’t used to pay Daniels.
‘Did they come out of the campaign? They didn’t come out of the campaign, they came from me,’ he told Fox News, in an interview to be broadcast Thursday morning.
Federal regulations require campaign donations made by the candidate to be reported to the Federal Election Commission.
Trump said he knew of the payments ‘later on’ but didn’t offer a specific time frame.
‘Later on I knew. Later on,’ he told Fox.
Indictment or impeachment: What happens to Trump next?
By Chris Pleasance
President Trump appeared in peril as Paul Manafort was found guilty and Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to charges leveled as part of Robert Mueller’s election meddling probe.
So what comes next for Donald Trump himself?
Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, insists Trump is implicated in a crime because he ordered Cohen to make hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal before the 2016 election.
Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked the Russian election meddling probe as a ‘rigged witch hunt’, but on Tuesday it delivered two guilty parties
But the prevailing legal opinion is that Trump will not face criminal prosecution while in office, though there is nothing in the Constitution that strictly forbids it.
The text of Article 2, Section 4, and Article 1, Second 3, when taken together imply that a president must be impeached and convicted by the Senate before he can be prosecuted, but does not outright say it.
Article 2, Section 4, makes clear what the impeachment power is.
‘The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors,’ it says.
Article 1, Second 3, sets out the existence of the Senate and says: The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments.
‘When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.
‘Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.’
That has led to legal debate in the past and the question even ended up before the Supreme Court in 1974 during the Watergate scandal, but a ruling was never made.
Justice Department guidelines say that a sitting President shouldn’t be charged with a crime while in office, but that could be subject to a challenge.
Even if Trump cannot be indicted on criminal charges, he could still be impeached for ‘treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors’.
Lanny David (left), the attorney for Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen (right), argues that Trump is implicated in the crime – but it is unlikely a sitting president would be indicted on criminal charges
Impeachment requires a majority in the House to pass articles of impeachment against the president.
The House Judiciary Committee then prosecutes the president in front of the Senate, with the Chief Justice presiding.
There needs to be a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate to convict.
As things stand the Republicans control both houses, so it is highly unlikely that Trump will face impeachment so long as the status quo holds.
However, the Democrats are hoping that mid-term elections in November will hand control of both houses back to them, which would put Trump in trouble.
As one Republican lawyer told Politico, Cohen’s allegations that Trump forced him to make payments provides the perfect fodder for impeachment.
‘It’s the only excuse they’ll need. And believe me, they won’t need much of an excuse,’ he said.
On Tuesday, Trump urged people to vote Republican in the elections, warning that voting Democrat would lead to ‘open borders and crime’.
Trump could be impeached, though that is unlikely to happen unless the November mid-terms hand control of the House and Senate back to the Democrats