Lawyerstake Trump’s Cohen words to court
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday that personal attorney Michael Cohen handles very little of his legal work, but did represent him in the “crazy Stormy Daniels deal,” a rare presidential public reference to the porn star who claims she had sex with the president in 2006.
Prosecutors in New York quickly claimed Trump’s early-morning comments buttress their arguments that not much of the material that the FBI seized from Cohen’s home, office and hotel should be protected by attorney-client privilege.
Within two hours of Trump’s interview, the prosecutors submitted papers in court citing Trump’s comments.
Trump’s remarks prompted fresh questions about his relationship with Cohen in the tangle of legal dealings involving the president, his legal fixer and the porn star.
In a call-in interview with “Fox & Friends,” Trump spoke about his relationship with Cohen, saying the lawyer handles “a tiny, tiny little fraction” of his legal work, then added: “like with this crazy Stormy Daniels deal he represented me. And, you know, from what I see he did absolutely nothing wrong. There were no campaign funds going into this which would have been a problem.”
Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 days before the 2016 election in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump. He now faces a series of legal actions, including an effort from Daniels to invalidate the nondisclosure deal. There’s also a criminal investigation of Cohen in New York, which prompted the recent FBI raid.
Trump has previously denied any knowledge of the payment. The White House has consistently denied the affair.