Michael Cohen flatly rejected the idea of a pardon from President Donald Trump long before his former lawyer was sentenced for financial fraud, campaign finance charges and lying to Congress, adviser Lanny Davis said Sunday.
In an interview on CBS News’ “Face The Nation,” Davis said the president’s former personal lawyer took “ownership” of his crimes and that a pardon was never on the table.
“He announced ahead of time, wouldn't take it even if it was handed to him,” Davis said. “And let's remember that Michael Cohen has corroborating evidence for everything that he has said. … So Michael Cohen is now taking ownership in his statement to the court of his personal responsibility for his behavior when he worked for Donald Trump.
“Now that he saw Donald Trump as president he underwent a genuine transformation because he feared for his country and his family When Donald Trump was president.”
Davis, who once represented former President Bill Clinton, lashed out at Trump’s tweet Sunday calling Cohen “a rat.”
“This is the top law enforcement officer in our system of government calling somebody who decides to tell the government the truth, ‘a rat,’” Davis said. “That's the language of a mobster not of the president. But Michael Cohen took ownership and personal responsibility for lying and he's going to jail as a consequence.”
According to Davis, Cohen has evidence to back up information he provided to special counsel Robert Mueller, who acknowledged it in a sentencing memo as useful to Russia related matters “core to its investigation.”
“I can't tell you anything about what Mr. Mueller meant, let's wait,” he said. “But I can tell you that when he used the words ‘core issues,’ those words are about the Russian investigation. And Mr. Mueller is careful with his words. And he also mentioned that Mr. Cohen provided information regarding the Moscow Trump Tower and that he was contacted by a senior government official and the press secretary to Vladimir Putin. So there's a lot in the Mueller memo that tells you how forthcoming, for 70 hours in seven meetings, Michael Cohen was with Mr. Mueller.”
Davis also criticized the president for doing nothing to stop Cohen from lying to Congress.
“He calls the White House and the president knows from the published testimony that he's about to lie,” Davis said. “Not one person from the White House, I can tell you this, ever said, ‘don't lie.’… he ended up lying and he was regretted it. And he's going to jail for it.”
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