Cohen: Trump directed me to make hush money payments
WASHINGTON: Michale Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer, has said that the US president knew of the hush money payments that were made to two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump.
“He (Trump) directed me to make the payments, he directed me to become involved in these matters,” Cohen told ABC News in an interview aired on Friday morning, the day after Trump sought to distance himself from the illegal payouts.
“Nothing in the Trump Organization was ever done unless it was run through Mr. Trump,” he said.
“Of course,” Cohen answered when asked if Trump knew that the payouts were wrong and that they were carried out to boost his election pitch.
The US president has denied having extramarital affairs with Karen Mcdougal, a former Playboy model, and Stormy Daniels, an adult film star.
In most of his remarks on the issue, Trump has claimed that Cohen as his lawyer should solely bear responsibility for the payments.
Cohen, who has been sentenced to three years in jail for bank fraud, tax fraud, lying to the US Congress and campaign funding law violation, said he did it for Trump “out of loyalty”.
“Out of loyalty to him... I followed a bad path and hence we started this conversation. I have my freedom and I will not be the villain. As I told you once before, I will not be the villain of his story,” Cohen said.