US President Donald Trump lashed out at Michael Cohen on Wednesday after his former lawyer implicated him in campaign finance violations, accusing him of making up “stories” in order to get a plea deal.
The president’s longtime lawyer dealt him a bitter political blow on Tuesday as he admitted to felony charges in New York that included making illegal campaign contributions — and implicated the president.
At almost the same time, Trump’s former campaign chief Paul Manafort was found guilty of tax and bank fraud by a jury in Virginia.
In his first reaction to the Cohen bombshell, Trump asserted in a series of tweets that his former lawyer’s campaign finance violations were “not a crime.”
“Michael Cohen plead (sic) guilty to two counts of campaign finance violations that are not a crime,” he tweeted, adding that “President Obama had a big campaign finance violation and it was easily settled!”
The 2008 Obama campaign paid a $375,000 fine in 2013 to settle violations of a rule that contributions made 20 days before an election had to be reported within 48 hours.
Cohen’s illegal campaign contributions involved secret hush payments he made on Trump’s behalf during the 2016 campaign to two women who claimed to have had affairs with the Republican candidate.
Trump contrasted Cohen’s actions with those of Manafort, whom he described as “such a brave man.”
“I feel very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family,” Trump wrote. “Unlike Michael Cohen, he refused to ‘break’ – make up stories in order to get a ‘deal.’”
“A large number of counts, ten, could not even be decided in the Paul Manafort case. Witch Hunt!” Trump wrote, referring to the counts on which the jury could not reach a unanimous decision.
