Cohen lawyer: ‘There is no dispute that Donald Trump committed a crime’

The attorney representing President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen says that there is now “no dispute” that President Trump committed a crime during the 2016 election.

Interviewed on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Lanny Davis said that Cohen’s decision to implicate the president in campaign finance violations related to his payments to Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels was proof of Trump’s wrongdoing.

{mosads}”Well, let’s clear up for some reason in ambiguity the smoke that [Trump attorney] Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump and the people around him are blowing,” Davis said.

“Very clearly, there is no dispute that Donald Trump committed a crime,” Davis, who is an opinion contributor for The Hill, added. “No dispute, because his own lawyers said to the special counsel in a letter that he directed, that’s the word they used, Michael Cohen to make these payments.”

“Very clearly, there is no dispute that Donald Trump committed a crime.” — @LannyDavis pic.twitter.com/wgC0BtVdjc

— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) August 22, 2018

Cohen on Tuesday pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and other federal crimes. While he did not name the president in court filings, he said that a “candidate” personally directed him to make the payments to Daniels and McDougal, who both claim affairs with the president, weeks before the election.

Prosecutors working with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation have been probing the payments and their funding for possible criminal activity including campaign finance law violations as part of the ongoing investigation into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The president’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, on Tuesday was also convicted on eight charges related to his lobbying work in Ukraine by a jury in Virginia.