Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 8-24-18

White House and Political News
Michael Cohen's Lawyer Has Said His Client Will Refuse Any Pardon From Donald Trump, Branding The U. S. President A "Criminal"
Lanny Davis, who was hired by Mr. Cohen last month, told National Public Radio Mr. Trump's former attorney would "never" ac- cept a pardon from "a man that he considers to be a cor- rupt and a dangerous per- son".
The unexpected statement comes as yet another blow to Mr. Trump's chances of extricating himself from what is developing into a legal minefield.
On Tuesday, Mr. Cohen pleaded guilty to eight charges, including to cam- paign finance violations that may put Mr. Trump in legal jeopardy.
Mr. Cohen, one of Mr. Trump’s closest associates for more than a decade, said he arranged to make pay- ments “for [the] principal purpose of influencing the election” at the direction of a “candidate” for federal office. He did not give the candi- date’s name, although he was working for Mr. Trump at the time.
The president is alleged to have attempted to buy the si- lence of two women he is ac- cused of having extramarital relationships with.
Many pundits saw a par-
Michael Cohen leaves the Thurgood Marshall Federal Courthouse on August 21, 2018 in New York after he pleaded guilty to campaign finance and other charges.
was "far beyond what has classically been called im- peachable offences".
“The President of the United States is a criminal," he continued. "He has not plead guilty to a crime but his own lawyers have described him directing somebody to do something that is a crimi- nal act, which is to hush up his affairs with two women, and that’s not what this is about, it’s about his hushing up those affairs in order to influence the outcome of an election."
Mr. Davis was appar- ently referring to comments in May by Rudy Giuliani, shortly after the former New York mayor joined Mr. Trump's legal team, in which he said the president had reimbursed Mr. Cohen for payments made to adult actress Stormy Daniels.
In a New York court on Tuesday, Mr. Cohen told
a judge he was aware of what he was doing before pleading guilty to the charges, admit- ting that he worked “at the direction of" Mr. Trump when he attempted to buy the silence of Karen Mc- Dougal, a former Playboy playmate who claims she had an affair with the president in 2016.
Mr. Cohen also admit- ted he worked “with and at the direction of the same candidate” to deliver a $130,000 (£100,000) pay- ment to Ms. Daniels, in order to silence her claims about an affair.
In the NPR interview on Wednesday morning, Mr. Davis again raised the possi- bility of Mr. Cohen provid- ing information that would be "of interest" to Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating possible links between the Trump cam- paign and Russia.
don for Mr. Cohen as one of Mr. Trump's best chances of keeping his former lawyer from further revealing the inner workings of his cam- paign and subsequent period in the White House.
"He has flatly authorized me to say under no circum- stances would he accept a pardon from Mr. Trump, who uses the pardon power in a way that no president in American history has ever used," Mr. Davis said.
He accused Mr. Trump of using the power to "relieve people of guilt" for "political cronies" who "committed
crimes", adding," Mr. Cohen is not interested in being dirtied by a pardon from such a man".
Mr. Davis said Mr. Trump directed Mr. Cohen to commit campaign finance laws, meaning he was "guilty of a crime" that
PAGE 6-A FLORIDA SENTINEL-BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2018