President distances himself from his longtime attorney.
WASHINGTON — President Trump distanced himself from his longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, on Thursday, saying that a federal criminal investigation was focused on Cohen’s business dealings and had nothing to do with his legal representation of the president.
The president acknowledged that Cohen represents him in connection with Stephanie Clifford, the pornographic film actress known as Stormy Daniels who has asserted that she had extramarital sexual relations with Trump. Cohen paid Clifford $130,000 shortly before the 2016 presidential election as part of what she now calls a “hush agreement.”
But Trump said Cohen did nothing wrong in that matter. Cohen handled just “a tiny, tiny little fraction” of his legal work, Trump said. “But Michael would represent me and represent me on some things,” the president said in a telephone call to “Fox & Friends,” his favorite cable television show. “He represents me, like with this crazy Stormy Daniels deal, he represented me.”
“From what I see,” he continued, “he did absolutely nothing wrong. There were no campaign funds going into this, which would have been a problem.”
“From what I understand, they’re looking at his businesses,” he added.
Discussing Cohen’s decision to decline to testify in a lawsuit by Clifford, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, Trump said he was probably just following the advice of his own lawyers. “I’m not involved, and I’ve been told I’m not involved.” The president’s mention of Clifford by name — or at least her professional name — was striking because he has mainly shown restraint in not discussing her.
And his comments about Cohen were among his most extensive since the FBI raided the lawyer’s office and hotel room after obtaining a warrant from a federal court. Trump complained on Twitter afterward that the raid meant that “attorney-client privilege is dead!” But his remarks on Fox suggested that the investigation did not involve Cohen’s legal work.
“Michael is a businessman, he’s got a business. He also practices law,” Trump said. “And they’re looking at something having to do with his business. I have nothing to do with his business.”
He was not asked if he would consider a pardon for Cohen. When another journalist asked that at the White House earlier in the week, Trump snapped, “Stupid question.”
Michael Avenatti, Clifford’s attorney, quickly seized on the president’s comments, suggesting they would help her lawsuit trying to nullify the 2016 nondisclosure agreement by proving Trump’s involvement in the effort to keep her quiet before the election.
“Thank you @foxandfriends for having Mr. Trump on this morning to discuss Michael Cohen and our case,” he wrote on Twitter. “Very informative.”
He went on MSNBC and CNN to reinforce his point.
“This case gets better every day, every hour, and one of the reasons why it gets better is that they step in to every trap that we lay,” Avenatti said on CNN.