Another warning shot? Trump’s ex- lawyer hires Clinton ally
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump’s longtime personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen could be sending the White House yet another warning shot by adding a close friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton to his legal team.
Lanny Davis confirmed his hiring Thursday, saying in a statement that he and Cohen had talked “many times in the last two weeks” and that the former Trump confidant “deserves to tell his side of the story.”
Cohen, who once boasted he would “take a bullet” for Trump, told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos last weekend that he now puts “family and country first” and that protecting the president is not his priority.
Among other things, investigators are looking into a $ 130,000 payment he handled as part of a confidentiality agreement with porn star Stormy Daniels, who says she had an affair with Trump in 2006. Trump denies that.
Davis, 72, was a special counsel to President Bill Clinton and regularly appeared on television to defend the Democrat during his 1998 impeachment.
By hiring Davis, Cohen could be signaling that he’s done waiting for Trump’s help and wants a skilled communicator on his team to temper the public relations fallout if he’s indicted or cooperates, former Assistant U. S. Attorney Harry Sandick said.
Davis said in his statement that he had been following Cohen’s case with “great interest” and in May, before his hiring, suggested Trump fire personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani after Giuliani claimed the president had reimbursed Cohen for the Daniels payment.
Davis argued that Giuliani had become a “fact witness on a crucial question” about the context of the payment and should be questioned before a grand jury. Trump denied reimbursing Cohen and said Giuliani needed to “get his facts straight.”
Cohen hasn’t been charged.