Trump calls ex-lawyer Michael Cohen a ‘weak person,’ ‘liar’ after plea deal

“He was convicted of various things unrelated to us. He was given a fairly long jail sentence and he is a weak person,” Trump told reporters outside the White House Thursday morning. “And, by being weak, unlike other people that you watch …. what he is trying to do is get a reduced sentence, so he is lying about a project that everybody knew about. I mean, we were very open with it.”

Cohen pleaded guilty Thursday morning in federal court in Manhattan to lying to congressional committees about ongoing discussions he had about a Trump real estate project in Russia, known as the “Moscow Project.” The former Trump attorney said he violated campaign finance laws “in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office,” meaning then candidate Trump, “for the principal purpose of influencing the election” in 2016.

In September 2017, Cohen gave a formal statement about the real estate project to the Senate Intelligence Committee. The Republican-led committee, along with a House committee, have been investigating potential Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The former Trump attorney told Congress that the “Moscow Project” ended in January 2016, but Cohen had communications as late as May 2016 that show he was contemplating a trip to Russia to meet with high-level government officials, business leaders, and bankers about the project. The false statement came as Trump was about to gain the Republican nomination for president.

Regarding the Moscow Project, Trump told reporters Thursday: “If I did do it, there would have been nothing wrong. That was a project that wasn’t done for a lot of reasons. … I was focused for running for president”

Cohen also pleaded guilty in August to 8 counts of campaign finance violations, tax fraud, and bank fraud.