Trump: Dems ‘wrongly’ call a ‘simple private transaction’ a ‘campaign contribution’
President Trump on Monday said Democrats are “wrongly” calling a “simple private transaction” a “campaign contribution,” referring to payments made by his former attorney to two women who alleged affairs with the president more than a decade ago.
In a pair of early morning tweets, Trump claimed that a payment by Michael Cohen was “done correctly,” adding that he would not be liable if it was done incorrectly, and that Cohen was “just trying to get his sentence reduced.”
{mosads}Trump’s tweets appeared to be prompted by comments by a Fox News host who said Democrats “can’t find a smoking gun tying the Trump campaign to Russia.” The president misspelled “smoking” as “smocking,” something he first did in August.
Cohen in August pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud and two counts of campaign finance law violations related to payments he made during the presidential campaign to adult-film star Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model. He said in his plea at the time that he violated campaign finance law at the direction of the candidate, a reference to Trump.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan last Friday filed documents that laid out allegations against Cohen, and stated that he violated campaign finance laws at the direction of “Individual-1,” whose description matches Trump.
Trump claimed in a tweet shortly after the filing was made public that the filing “Totally clears the president.” He did not provide additional context.
Democrats have seized on the filings, which came days after special counsel Robert Mueller filed court papers that laid out the extent of cooperation between prosecutors and former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, and suggested the president may be in growing legal jeopardy.
“The president has now stepped into the same territory that ultimately led to President Nixon resigning the office. President Nixon was an unindicted co-conspirator, a — certainly a different set of facts,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Sunday on ABC.
“My takeaway is there’s a very real prospect that on the day Donald Trump leaves office, the Justice Department may indict him. That he may be the first president in quite some time to face the real prospect of jail time,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on CBS.