Cohen: Trump was aware hush payments wrong
WASHINGTON >> Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, said in a television interview Friday that Trump knew it was wrong to make hush-money payments to women who alleged they had affairs with him, directly contradicting claims from the president.
Cohen, who has admitted facilitating payments to two women in violation of campaign finance laws, told ABC News that he knew what he was doing was wrong.
Asked whether the president also knew it was wrong to make the payments, Cohen replied, “Of course.” He added that the purpose was to “help [Trump] and his campaign.”
“He was very concerned about how this would affect the election,” Cohen said.
His comments, in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” are at odds with those of Trump on Thursday in tweets and in a television interview.
Trump denied that he directed Cohen to break the law during the 2016 campaign by buying the silence of former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal and adult-film star Stormy Daniels.
He also said that Cohen, as his lawyer, bore responsibility for any campaign finance violations.
“I never directed him to do anything wrong,” Trump told Fox News on Thursday. “Whatever he did, he did on his own ... I never directed him to do anything incorrect or wrong.”
In his interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Cohen, who once vowed that he would “take a bullet” for Trump, flatly disputed the president’s assertion. He said Trump was well aware of important decisions involving his business.
“I don’t think there is anybody that believes that,” Cohen said. “First of all, nothing at the Trump Organization was ever done unless it was run through Mr. Trump. He directed me to make the payments. He directed me to become involved in these matters.”
The former lawyer and Trump fixer added: “He knows the truth. I know the truth. Others know the truth. And here is the truth: People of the United States of America, people of the world, don’t believe what he is saying. The man doesn’t tell the truth. And it is sad that I should take responsibility for his dirty deeds.”
Cohen’s comments were his first since being sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday for what U.S. District Judge William Pauley III called a “veritable smorgasbord of criminal conduct” — crimes that include tax violations, lying to a bank and lying to Congress, as well as those related to the hush-money payments.
White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said Friday that by reporting Cohen’s claims, the media “is giving credence to a convicted criminal.”
“He’s a self-admitted liar,” Gidley told reporters. “You guys all know that, and for him to say ... ‘I’m going to stop lying, starting now,’ is somewhat silly.”
Federal prosecutors contend Trump directed the payments in a bid to help his election prospects. Trump has denied the affairs, and initially denied knowing anything about the payments, but has since shifted his story.