Trump-Cohen crisis: President struggles to contain fallout as lawyer Lanny Davis says Cohen could talk to Mueller investigation
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has addressed the escalating crisis besetting his presidency surrounding revelations from his former lawyer and a run of legal troubles that could see him investigated as part of a criminal case.
Following his former personal attorney and 'fixer' Michael Cohen's guilty pleas to a string of crimes - one of which he said the then-Republican candidate directed him to commit - the president tweeted:"If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!"
The outburst follows a day of major legal troubles unprecedented since he entered the White House in 2017 — and there may be rocky waters ahead after a fresh subpoena for Mr Cohen on Wednesday indicated investigators may be circling in on the Trump Foundation as well. In addition, Mr Trump has seen numerous calls from Democrats saying that Mr Trump's recent Supreme Court nomination should be stalled in light of Mr Cohen's statements, and the lawyer for the former Trump fixer further ratcheted up the pressure, and said his client would not accept a pardon from the president to reduce his sentence.
"Michael Cohen knows information that would be of interest to the special counsel, in my opinion, regarding both knowledge about a conspiracy to corrupt American democracy by Russians, and the failure to report that information to the FBI," Mr Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, said on MSNBC. Mr Davis continued to say his client had set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for legal fees, and to help him "tell the truth about Donald Trump".
Within minutes of each other in separate courts on Tuesday, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort was found guilty on tax and bank fraud charges, while Mr Cohen pleaded guilty to a range of charges.
Mr Trump did not address the public after the latest developments were announced, but opted to spend a rally in West Virginia avoiding discussion of either Mr Cohen or Mr Manafort, and instead addressing issues ranging from his mother's turkeys, exploding windmills and imaginary Chinese drivers.
During the White House press briefing on Wednesday, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders pushed back on talk that the events on Tuesday related to the president. She argued that Mr Manafort's charges had nothing to do with Mr Trump or his 2016 campaign, and said that it was "a ridiculous accusation" when asked if the president lied about having known about the payments made by Mr Cohen.
The president has previously denied having affairs with either of the women involved in the Cohen case. And he has strenuously objected to any suggestion that he is connected to any crimes revealed by the Mueller probe, which is looking into possible illegal collusion with the Russians.
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Here's some more analysis from the Press Association, in which commentator Brian Klaas suggests the current row could start terminal problems for Trump's presidency:
Donald Trump could face the “beginning of the end” of his presidency after being implicated in criminal behaviour over hush money payments to a porn star, a US politics expert has claimed.
Dr Brian Klaas, a fellow in global politics at the London School of Economics, said the wheels are starting to come off Mr Trump's presidency as he warned that Americans would begin to question whether the president should remain in the White House.
The academic said he believed the Michael Cohen court case was the start of “continuing investigations, indictments, guilty pleas and convictions in Trump's orbit”.
Cohen, Mr Trump's former personal lawyer and “fixer”, admitted making payments to two women “at the direction” of the president.
It came as Mr Trump's former campaign chief Paul Manafort was convicted of fraud offences.
Speaking to the Press Association, Dr Klaas said: “I think that the pressure to co-operate will be overwhelming for both Manafort and Cohen, and both of those people very likely have damaging information about the president.
“I don't expect this to be the end of any of Trump's legal challenges, but it could be the beginning of the end of his presidency.
“The wheels really are starting to come off and I think at some point Americans will ask the question: 'Do we want to have a president who is constantly enmeshed in scandal, criminal allegations and potentially is guilty of crimes?”'
He also warned that there was a “real risk” of Mr Trump failing to make it to the end of his first term and said: “This has not happened since Watergate, in which a sitting president is accused under oath by somebody in his close orbit of having committed federal crimes.”
Dr Klaas added: “Anybody in the White House who says that they are not worried about these allegations is not telling the truth, because they are extremely serious and they are probably only the tip of the iceberg in terms of legal and political challenges that the Trump White House will now face.”
The former US campaign adviser said there were three ways the president could lose office - resignation, indictment or impeachment.
He suggested it was more likely that Mr Trump would be impeached than the other options, adding: “It would involve a significant number of Republicans turning on their own party's president, which makes it harder to do, but not impossible, depending on how damning the evidence is.”
Dr Klaas dismissed suggestions that the storm could bolster Mr Trump's presidency, explaining: “It could entrench views among his base that he is being victimised in some way, but Trump's base is not going to turn on him.”
However, he said the core support was not sufficient to win elections.
“With the midterm elections coming up, the question is how much political damage does this inflict on the Republican party and if the answer is quite a lot then the Republicans in Congress will be tempted to turn on President Trump to save themselves.”
John Dean, the former White House counsel for Richard Nixon, has now weighed in, saying Mr Cohen identified the president as a "criminal" and that Mr Trump was engaged in a "campaign conspiracy".
Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, wants Republicans to delay hearings for Mr Trump's Supreme Court nominee in the wake of all the courtroom drama.
He said Brett Kavanaugh, Mr Trump's nominee, has refused to specify whether or not the president can be forced to comply with a subpoena. The Senate shouldn't confirm a justice, Mr Schumer added, who thinks presidents are "are virtually above the law".
Mr Trump nominated Mr Kavanaugh to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy in June. His hearing date is currently set for 4 September.
Mr Cohen's lawyer has said his client might be willing to testify in Congress about his dealings with the president.
Attorney Lanny Davis told CNN that Mr Cohen would likely be willing to testify again, though he hasn't talked with him about the issue specifically. The Senate Intelligence Committee has said they're very interested in hearing from him.
Mr Davis was more evasive when questioned about cooperating with Robert Mueller, however, saying he couldn't talk about the investigation.
Senator Mazie Hirono has joined in the backlash against Mr Trump's Supreme Court pick in the wake of Mr Cohen's guilty plea. The Democrat from Hawaii issued a colorful statement this morning about why she wouldn't be meeting with nominee Brett Kavanugh.
Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who challenged Mr Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, has also weighed in on yesterday's events.
A reminder that US financial markets are suffering in the midst of all this turmoil.
The dollar index was down 0.12 per cent on Wednesday, while the euro was up 0.19 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 5.87 points – or 0.02 per cent – at midday, and US Treasury yields also dipped.
Investors don't seem too worried, however, as the S&P 500 stock index hit a record high the day before.
Former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly has come out with his take on the situation, faulting Mr Cohen not for committing tax fraud or campaign finance violations, but for "betraying" the president.
In a tweet, the disgraced presenter wrote: "No matter how this Michael Cohen thing turns out, the lawyer has betrayed his former client Donald Trump. That’s a fact. The President must be getting used to this."
In keeping with today's Watergate theme, a key prosecutor on the 1972 case has said we now have grounds to impeach Mr Trump.
Jill Wine-Banks, an assistant Watergate special prosecutor, told MSNBC that Mr Cohen's plea is "clear evidence that the president committed crimes and that is grounds for impeachment".
"I know that he will defend on saying, 'but this isn’t Russia'. Well I don’t care that it’s not Russia. It’s not Russia gate, but it’s still Trump gate," she added.
Michael Cohen's attorney appears to have set up a fundraising account to help pay the 51-year-old's legal bills.
In an appearance on the Today show, attorney Lanny Davis said Mr Cohen had suffered a "tragic and difficult experience with his family," and urged viewers to visit michaelcohentruth.com to donate to his defense. On Wednesday, however, the url automatically redirected to Mr Trump's campaign page.
A separate GoFundMe account called the "Michael Cohen Truth Fund" – which appeared to have been created by Mr Davis – had raised nearly $50,000 by Wednesday afternoon. The Independent has reached out to the page's creator to verify their identity.
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