Donald Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani spend Sunday raging and lying about the multiple investigations closing on the businessman and reality TV star.
Unsettled by the revelations of his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, Trump said amid a barrage of tweets.
Remember, Michael Cohen only became a “Rat” after the FBI did something which was absolutely unthinkable & unheard of until the Witch Hunt was illegally started. They BROKE INTO AN ATTORNEY’S OFFICE! Why didn’t they break into the DNC to get the Server, or Crooked’s office?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 16, 2018
Cohen received a 38-month sentence last week after pleading guilty to nine charges, including campaign finance violations with payoffs — just before the 2016 Presidential vote — to two women claiming sexual encounters with Trump. Prosecutors publicly linked Trump for the first time to criminal activity, saying he “coordinated” with his lawyer and “directed” the pyament of the hush money.
Cohen also told investigators that the Trump Organization’s pursuit of a Trump Tower in Moscow continued until June 2016, when Trump was on the verge of the Republican nomination and as Russian operatives were discussing with the Trump campaign how to disseminate material damaging Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton.
EA on BBC: Why Cohen Could Be Beginning of Trump’s Downfall
Trump’s tweet included the false statement that the FBI broke into Cohen’s office when in February 2018, with a search warrant, it entered the office and Cohen’s home and hotel to take documents and computer files. That material has been reviewed by the Trump-Russia investigation of Robert Mueller, as well as the Federal prosecutors in New York who brought the case over Cohen’s financial crimes.
Trying to discredit the investigation, Trump also lied about texts exchanged between FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. Responding to the latest stories of contacts between Michael Flynn — his senior campaign staffer and first National Security Advisor, now cooperating with investigators and awaiting his sentence — and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, he pronounced that Flynn is a victim of “entrapment”.
But Trump’s efforts were overtaken by the reaction, including from his supporters, that he is now using the language of organized crime to push back the authorities.
Sir, in mobster lingo, a ‘rat’ is a witness who tells prosecutors real incriminating info. Perhaps a different word? Searches of lawyer’s offices common enough that DOJ has a procedure for them. Here it yielded evidence of crimes you said he should be jailed for. You should stop. https://t.co/EV1txBYrhz
— Andy McCarthy (@AndrewCMcCarthy) December 16, 2018
The spotlight also turned to Giuliani, the former New York mayor now known for his sometimes bizarre and often lie-filled defenses of Trump.
On Sunday morning political talk shows, Giuliani’s rambling statement led to an apparent admission that the Moscow Trump Tower talks may have persisted until November 2016 and the Presidential vote. Having said repeatedly that Trump did not know of Cohen’s payoff to Stormy Daniels, he linked his client to the hush money over her claimed 2006 encounter with the businessman.
Giuliani implicates Trump in reimbursements scheme:
"President did talk to Cohen or to people in between and they arranged to reimburse Cohen. This was after the payment was made…after the campaign was over"
Scheme likely was NY and federal tax crimes:https://t.co/fbtXuSoISS pic.twitter.com/8N897qVY9p
— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) December 16, 2018
And Giuliani — in contrast to Trump’s repeated “NO COLLUSION” declaration over Russia links — said that collusion had occurred up to November 2016, but was not a crime.
As part of the protest of innocence, the lawyer pushed aside any contacts between Trump campaign staff, Russian operatives, and WikiLeaks to disseminate hacked e-mails connected to Hillary Clinton — a matter under investigation by Mueller’s team: “That’s not a crime.”
