Trump rant reveals startling admissions
On Fox News show, he says Cohen is porn case lawyer, admits Moscow stay
In a meandering interview on “Fox & Friends” Thursday morning that turned at times into an angry phone rant, President Donald Trump admitted that Michael Cohen represented him in the Stormy Daniels case and confirmed he did stay overnight in Moscow hotel, contradicting a claim he made to then FBI Director James Comey.
Cohen, Trump’s longtime personal attorney, announced in a court filing in California on Wednesday that he will invoke the Fifth Amendment in a lawsuit filed by Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, over a $130,000 payment made days before the election to silence her claims about an alleged affair with Trump. Trump has previously stated that he didn’t know anything about the payment and denied his involvement in the settlement, but admitted to the hosts of “Fox & Friends” that Cohen indeed represented him on the case.
“Michael would represent me and represent me on some things. He represents me, like with this crazy Stormy Daniels deal, he represented me,” Trump said, adding he has many lawyers working for him and that from what he sees, Cohen did “absolutely nothing wrong.”
“They why is he pleading the Fifth?” co-host Ainsley Earhardt asked.
“Because he’s got other things. He’s got businesses. And from what I understand they’re looking at his businesses,” Trump responded. “I have nothing to do with his business, I can tell you.”
(On Thursday, U.S. Judge Kimba Wood appointed a special master to review material seized from the office and residences of President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen, acceding to his request that an independent party review the material before federal prosecutors can access to it.)
Appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Thursday during Trump’s interview, Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, responded to Trump’s admission that Cohen represented him on the case.
“Another gift from the heavens in this case,” Avenatti said. “It’s a hugely damaging admission by the president.”
A hotel near the Kremlin
Trump made another surprising statement later in the interview, when he admitted he had in fact stayed overnight in a Moscow hotel in 2013. The admission contradicts memos made by former Comey about a conversation with Trump about the evening in question, where the president said salacious claims in an intelligence dossier about a night he spent at the hotel were impossible, because “he had spoken to people who had been on the trip with him and they had reminded him that he didn’t stay overnight in Russia for that.”
“He said I didn’t stay there at night. Of course I stayed there,” Trump said of Comey’s memo. “His memo said, ‘I left immediately’ I never said that. I never said I left immediately.”
Earlier this week, Bloomberg uncovered flight records that revealed Trump’s plane was in Moscow for more than 24 hours during the weekend of the Miss Universe Pageant. Former MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts, who hosted the pageant that year, confirmed to the Daily Beast that Trump had indeed stayed overnight.
“Fox & Friends” has often been a safe landing spot for Trump, who has repeatedly referred to it as his favorite news program. But on Thursday, the hosts were surprisingly tough, interjecting often and asking follow-up questions, like when the president complained about the Justice Department not doing its job.
“It’s your Justice department!” co-host Steve Doocy exclaimed. “Mr. President, you’re the Republican in charge and you’ve got a Republican running it.”
“Because of the fact that they have this witch hunt going on with people in the Justice Department that shouldn’t be there. I’ve taken the position. that I will not be involved with the Justice Department,” Trump responded, adding later in the interview, “But pretty soon I won’t.”
Mostly ‘bunkered down’
In recent months, Trump has largely avoided television interviews, choosing instead to communicate to Americans largely through Twitter. He’s even avoided the opinion hosts on Fox News, which remain largely supportive of him and his administration. Trump’s last on-camera interview on the network was back in November 2017, when he sat down with Laura Ingraham. He last called into Fox News in February to discuss the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election on “Justice with Judge Jeanine” host Jeanine Pirro.
“The president is bunkered down. almost in hiding, avoiding the media,” CNN’s “Reliable Sources” host Brian Stelter said Thursday morning.
Despite his affinity for Fox News, Trump hasn’t sat for an interview with anyone from the news side of Fox News since prior to being elected president. The avoidance led “Special Report” host Bret Baier to take the unusual step of addressing Trump directly on a show last August and publicly requesting he appear for an interview.