Following his sentencing for pleading guilty to two campaign finance violations of giving hush money payments to women who claimed an affair with President Donald Trump prior to his campaign, former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen spoke with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos about the president and why he lied for him for “more than 10 years.”
Cohen said Trump “doesn’t tell the truth,” adding instead of taking responsibility for directing Cohen to pay the women hush money, “he attacks” Cohen’s family.
“He knows the truth, I know the truth, others know the truth, and here is the truth: The 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 told Stephanopoulos on Friday’s broadcast of “Good Morning America.”
I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law. It is called “advice of counsel,” and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. That is why they get paid. Despite that many campaign finance lawyers have strongly……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018
….stated that I did nothing wrong with respect to campaign finance laws, if they even apply, because this was not campaign finance. Cohen was guilty on many charges unrelated to me, but he plead to two campaign charges which were not criminal and of which he probably was not…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018
….guilty even on a civil basis. Those charges were just agreed to by him in order to embarrass the president and get a much reduced prison sentence, which he did-including the fact that his family was temporarily let off the hook. As a lawyer, Michael has great liability to me!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018
Partial transcript as follows:
STEPHANOPOULOS: [Y]ou wake up today, and the president is tweeting from very early in the morning several different things … what struck me most is his claim that you agreed to this plea deal for this reason he said, “Those charges were just agreed to him in order to embarrass the president and get a much reduced prison sentence.”
COHEN: I know which tweets you are talking about. First of all, it is absolutely not true. I did not do it to embarrass the president. He knows the truth. I know the truth, many people know the truth. Under no circumstances do I want to embarrass the president of the United States of America. The truth is, I told the truth. I took responsibility for my actions. And instead of him taking responsibility for his actions, what does he do? He attacks my family. And after yesterday, again being before the court and taking the responsibility and receiving a sentence of 36 months, the only thing he could do is to tweet about my family?
STEPHANOPOULOS: He said in the tweets and repeated in an interview later on that basically he says — his claim — you are lying about him to protect your wife, to protect your father in-law.
COHEN: Inaccurate. He knows the truth, I know the truth, others know the truth, and here is the truth: The 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.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You lied for him for a long time.
COHEN: More than 10 years.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Why?
COHEN: Out of loyalty. Out of loyalty to him. I followed a bad path and hence how we started this conversation. I have my freedom, and I will not be the villain — as I told you once before — I will not be the villain of his story.
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
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