President Trump suggested late Tuesday that investigators need to “find some collusion” between him with Russia, hours after his former campaign manager and former personal attorney were convicted of federal crimes as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
“Where is the collusion? You know, they are still looking for collusion. Where is the collusion? Find some collusion. We want to find the collusion,” Trump said during a campaign rally in West Virginia.
Trump spoke hours after longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty in a New York court to eight criminal counts, as a Virginia jury almost simultaneously returned a guilty verdict on eight counts against former campaign manager Paul Manafort.
Cohen, who formerly described himself as Trump’s fixer, pleaded guilty to tax evasion, bank fraud, and violating campaign finance law to arrange payoffs to two women alleging affairs with Trump during the 2016 election.
Manafort, meanwhile, was convicted of eight charges, including tax evasion, bank fraud, and failing to report foreign accounts.
Both men could face years in prison when they are sentenced — Cohen in December and Manafort at an undetermined date.
[Opinion: Here’s why Trump will probably pardon Paul Manafort one year from now]
Trump referred to Mueller’s investigation as “the Russian witch hunt” during his remarks, continuing his increasingly aggressive public stance toward Mueller, who was appointed last year after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.
Trump never mentioned his former aides during the speech, but he did mention them before the rally.
“I feel badly for both,” he said after disembarking Air Force One in West Virginia. “I must tell you that Paul Manafort is a good man. He was with Ronald Reagan. He was with a lot of different people over the years. And I feel very sad about that.”
“It doesn’t involve me, but I still feel — you know, it’s a very sad thing that happened,” he said. “This has nothing to do with Russian collusion. This started as Russian collusion. This has absolutely nothing to do — this is a witch hunt, and it’s a disgrace. But this has nothing to do what they started out — looking for Russians involved in our campaign; there were none. I feel very badly for Paul Manafort.”
Trump did not address Cohen by name on the tarmac or at the rally. Once fiercely loyal, Cohen distanced himself from the president as his legal woes mounted and infuriated Trump when it was revealed that he secretly recorded his former boss. Some tapes were seized in federal raids of Cohen’s office and residence earlier this year.
As he pleaded guilty, Cohen said Tuesday he committed the campaign finance crimes “at direction of” Trump.
Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis wrote on Twitter Tuesday that his client “stood up and testified under oath that Donald Trump directed him to commit a crime by making payments to two women for the principal purpose of influencing an election. If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn’t they be a crime for Donald Trump?”
