Trump hits back at Michael Cohen after implicating him in campaign finance crimes
Donald Trump has hit back at his former lawyer Michael Cohen after he implicated the President in crimes relating to his campaign finance.
Trump's former personally attorney admitted to breaking US campaign finance laws after paying off the President's alleged mistresses on Tuesday.
He said that he had done so at the direction of “the candidate” for the “principal purpose of influencing the election,” directly implication Trump in the transfer of “hush money”.
In his first comments since Cohen's guilty plea, taking to Twitter, Trump said: “If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don't retain the services of Michael Cohen.”
In a later post he said the two counts of campaign finance violations that his former lawyer had pleaded guilty to were “not a crime.”
Cohen's own attorney, Lanny Davis, said he would not accept a presidential pardon if one was offered.
Davis also said his client had information that would be of interest to FBI director Robert Mueller regarding his investigation into potential Russian interference in the 2016 US election.
The Russian rouble dropped by almost one per cent against the dollar with investors concerned Cohen could reveal new claims related to Russian interference in the US election in 2016.
Minutes before Cohen's plea, in which admitted a total of eight count, including tax and bank fraud, Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort was convicted on eight charges of bank and tax fraud.
Trump was more sympathetic to Manafort and said he felt “very badly” for him and his “wonderful family.”