Cohen's Lawyer Claims Client Has More to Tell Mueller About Trump
Lanny Davis, the attorney for President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, launched a full-fledged offensive against Trump on Wednesday, one day after telling the media that Cohen “would be happy” to tell special counsel Robert Mueller everything he knows about Trump’s activities during the 2016 presidential campaign.
On Tuesday, Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court to eight criminal counts, including campaign finance violations.
Later in the day, Davis said Cohen had knowledge “of interest” to Mueller and was “more than happy to tell the special counsel all that he knows,” according to The Washington Post. In an interview with Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, he said his client is “liberated to tell the truth,” according to The Washington Times.
Davis said Cohen could address whether Trump was part of a “criminal conspiracy” to hack into the emails of Democratic Party leaders, CNN reported.
Trump on Tuesday denied that Cohen’s guilty plea and a jury’s conviction the same day of Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort on fraud charges had anything to do with alleged Russian collusion in the election, the official purpose of the Mueller probe.
“Where is the collusion?” Trump said at a West Virginia rally.
Trump’s current attorney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, downplayed the importance of Cohen’s plea.
“There is no allegation of any wrongdoing against the president in the government’s charges against Mr. Cohen,” Giuliani said.
But on Wednesday, Davis said Cohen has lots more to say, CBS reported.
“It’s not about evidence. It is definitive, indisputable that Donald Trump’s lawyers said in a letter to the special counsel that Donald Trump directed – the same word that Michael Cohen used in court yesterday under oath – directed Michael Cohen to make illegal payments. It’s not a dispute. It’s not about credibility. His own lawyers used the word directed,” Davis said on “CBS This Morning.”
Davis said Trump “committed a crime. He should be indicted. If he were not president he clearly would be indicted and jailed for that crime. Whether he can be indicted as president, of course, is not yet decided by the Supreme Court.”
Davis said Cohen has more to say on the hacking of Democratic Party officials in 2016.
“He had matters that would be of interest to the special counsel relating to pre-knowledge of computer hacking by Donald Trump. Which if true, if true, would constitute knowledge of a crime committed by a foreign government in hacking our computers which was part of the indictment of 12 Russians that the special counsel has already published. So my observation is that he can speak to that and beyond that I can’t go,” Davis said. “It will have to play out with the special counsel.”
In a separate interview on Wednesday, Davis said Cohen will testify before Congress without seeking immunity.
“Yes, I believe I can say that,” Davis told CNN’s “New Day.” “I have not specifically asked my client that question, but I’m stating my belief that the answer to that question is yes.”
In his guilty plea, Cohen said he kept information that would have harmed Trump “in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office.”
Cohen is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 12.
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