President Trump blasted Michael Cohen on Thursday morning, telling reporters his former attorney is “lying” to get a reduced sentence from federal investigators looking into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 U.S. election.
Trump called Cohen a “weak person” soon after the attorney plead guilty on Thursday to making false statements to investigators. Cohen said in a Manhattan court hearing that he submitted a false written statement about a Trump real estate deal in Moscow, according to Reuters.
“He’s trying to get a much lesser sentence by making up the story,” Trump told reporters. “Everybody knows about this deal.”
Trump then added: “Even if he was right, it doesn’t matter because I was allowed to do whatever I wanted during the campaign,” according to BuzzFeed News.
Cohen said in court he made “misstatements” to federal investigators “to be consistent with individual 1’s political messaging and out of loyalty to individual 1,” according to Reuters. He’s previously said “individual 1” and President Trump are the same person.
Cohen already pleaded guilty in August to campaign finance violations and bank fraud in a case from federal prosecutors. He testified the president ordered him to pay hush money to two women before the 2016 election. Trump has denied he was having an affair with the women.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Trump calls ex-lawyer Michael Cohen a ‘weak person’ after new guilty plea, claims he’s ‘lying’ to get a reduced sentence.
— Ken Thomas (@KThomasDC) November 29, 2018