Michael Cohen’s lawyer strongly hints that Donald Trump was in on the Russian hacking of the election
Donald Trump’s longtime fixer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to eight felonies today, including making illegal payments to two of Trump’s mistresses. In the process Cohen confessed that Trump had instructed him to make those payments, thus making Trump an unindicted co-conspirator. This evening Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis appeared on the Rachel Maddow show. While he was predictably a bit cagey, he strongly hinted that Trump was in on the Russian hacking of the election – and that Cohen is going to testify about it.
Lanny Davis refused to confirm whether or not Michael Cohen has been coordinating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, but he did clearly state that Cohen is more than happy to give Mueller anything he wants. Davis then went on to say that Cohen has “knowledge about hacking, what Trump knew, and whether he cheered it on,” and “whether or not Trump knew about that crime ahead of time.”
There would be no reason for a straight shooting attorney like Davis to publicly tease something like this unless Donald Trump really was in on the Russian election hacking, and Michael Cohen either witnessed it or has evidence of it. Davis’ words are going to cause Mueller to come calling, if he hasn’t already. If Cohen doesn’t have the goods, prosecutors will end up looking upon it unfavorably when it comes to his eventual sentencing recommendation.
So it’s now fair to assume that Michael Cohen is going to give Robert Mueller evidence or testimony that Donald Trump is on the Russian hacking plot while it was going on, and even before it occurred. Today we saw Trump formally accused in court of criminally conspiring to violate federal election law. Now we’re looking at the prospect of Trump being formally accused of treasonously conspiring with Russia against the United States to alter the outcome of the election.
