President Trump sounds like a mobster for calling Michael Cohen a “rat,” says an adviser to the one-time Trump lawyer and fixer.
“This is a top law enforcement officer in our system of government calling somebody who decides to tell the government the truth ‘a rat.’ That’s language of a mobster, not of the president,” Lanny Davis told CBS News on Sunday of his client. “But Michael Cohen took ownership and personal responsibility for lying, and he’s going to jail as consequence.”
[Read more: Trump borrows ‘rat’ nickname for Michael Cohen from Matt Drudge]
On @FaceTheNation, Michael Cohen’s former attorney Lanny Davis responds to President Trump’s tweet calling Cohen a “rat”: “That’s language of a mobster, not of the president” https://t.co/zArv0Yw6t2 pic.twitter.com/6zAqdmVxp5
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 16, 2018
Davis’ comments came after a Trump tweet earlier Sunday, in which the president blasted Cohen for cooperating with federal prosecutors in New York and Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. A federal judge last week sentenced Cohen to three years in prison. Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations for efforts he made to silence women claiming to have had extramarital affairs with Trump before the 2016 election, as well as tax and bank fraud. He has also pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about negotiations over a Trump Organization real estate project in Moscow.
“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?” Trump wrote.
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
The FBI raided Cohen’s office, home, and hotel room in April as part a probe led by the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York into Cohen’s business dealings with Trump. The inquiry was the result of a referral from Mueller.
“He not only consented to, he thanked them for their courtesy as they left,” Davis said Sunday, referencing Trump’s allegation that the FBI “broke into” Cohen’s office. “You have a president denouncing the FBI, lying about a warrant and legal search. He’s the top law enforcement officer of the country, and who does he praise? He praises people who have lied and refused to cooperate. The opposite of what a president should do.”
Davis declined to elaborate on what corroborating evidence Cohen had to back up his accusation that he acted in coordination with, and at the direction of, Trump to keep women such as porn star Stormy Daniels quiet about their alleged relationships with Trump more than a decade ago.
Cohen would also not accept any potential pardon from Trump, Davis added.
