'This is an illegal hoax': Trump calls for end to Mueller investigation after Cohen pleads guilty
CLOSE
President Donald Trump says ex-lawyer Michael Cohen is a ‘weak person’ who is ‘lying’ to get a reduced sentence.’ Trump made the comments shortly after Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about a Trump real estate deal in Russia. (Nov. 29)
AP
WASHINGTON – After his former attorney pleaded guilty to lying in hopes of covering up potential Russian ties, President Donald Trump ended his Thursday lashing out at the special counsel investigation and calling for its demise.Â
In a pair of tweets after landing in Argentina for the G20 summit, the president called the two-year investigation a “total witch hunt” and accused special counsel Robert Mueller of ignoring crimes committed by the “other side.”
“This is an illegal hoax that should be ended immediately,” the president said on Twitter late Thursday. “Mueller refuses to look at the real crimes on the other side. Where is the IG REPORT?”
It’s far from the first time the president has attacked Mueller and his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, but as time has gone on, Mueller’s investigation has inched closer to the president and his closest advisers.Â
Alan Dershowitz: “These are not crimes. He (Mueller) has no authority to be a roving Commissioner. I don’t see any evidence of crimes.†This is an illegal Hoax that should be ended immediately. Mueller refuses to look at the real crimes on the other side. Where is the IG REPORT?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2018
More: Robert Mueller probe: Ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen pleads guilty to lying to Congress
More: Northern California, reeling from Camp Fire devastation, evacuates from flash floods
More: Report: Trump Organization planned to give $50 million penthouse to Putin amid Moscow deal
Earlier Thursday, Michael Cohen, the president’s former attorney and fixer, pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in an aim to cover up Trump’s ties to Russia, court documents show.Â
Cohen admitted to lying about plans for a Trump Tower in Moscow, telling lawmakers the plans ended in January 2016 when it really lasted well into Trump’s presidential campaign.Â
Prosecutors said that Cohen lied to the committees to “minimize links between the Moscow Project and (Trump) and give the false impression that the Moscow Project ended before the Iowa caucus and the very first primary in hopes of limiting the ongoing Russia investigations.â€
Alan Dershowitz: “These are not crimes. He (Mueller) has no authority to be a roving Commissioner. I don’t see any evidence of crimes.†This is an illegal Hoax that should be ended immediately. Mueller refuses to look at the real crimes on the other side. Where is the IG REPORT?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2018
After the guilty plea was made public, Trump fought back on criticism and what the plea deal could mean for him. He called Cohen “a weak person” and said even if his testimony were true, it was perfectly legal for him to negotiate a real-estate deal while campaigning.
“He’s a weak person and not a very smart person,” Trump said. “Even if he was right, it doesn’t matter because I was allowed to do whatever I wanted during the campaign. I was running my business.”
The guilty plea came amid a flurry of activity from Mueller, who personally signed Cohen’s deal. On Monday, Mueller voided a plea deal with Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, for lying repeatedly to investigators. Manafort has a hearing Friday to get a possible sentencing date for charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice for representing a pro-Russia faction in Ukraine.
Contributing: Kevin Johnson
Posted!
Robin Bell, left, and Sorane Yamahira look at their work projected on the Trump International Hotel, July 23, 2018, in Washington. In a city with a long tradition of leftist street activism, Bell has become something of a local celebrity. Every few weeks, Bell puts messages of protest on the side of the Trump International Hotel. He’s called President Donald Trump a pig and a racist, used smiling poop emojis, and taunted the president with images of his former lawyer, Michael Cohen. Adult-film actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, speaks outside U.S. Federal Court with her lawyer Michael Avenatti (R) in Lower Manhattan, New York on April 16, 2018.
Stormy Daniels, the porn star who claims to have had a consensual sexual encounter with Donald Trump a decade ago, said April 17, 2018 that she is pursuing legal action against the president because she is “done being bullied.””I’m tired of being threatened, intimidating me, and trying to say that you’ll ruin my life and take all my money and my house,” Daniels said on ABC’s “The View.””I’m done being bullied,” Daniels said of legal threats from Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen, who is now embroiled in his own legal troubles.”I’m done,” Daniels said.In this courtroom sketch, Joanna Hendon, right, one of President Donald Trump’s lawyers, speaks as the president’s personal attorney Michael Cohen, left, sits next to one of his own attorneys Todd Harrison, center, with porn star Stormy Daniels visible in the audience between Cohen and Harrison, during a federal court hearing in New York, April 16, 2018. Attorneys for Cohen and Trump tried to persuade U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood to delay prosecutors from examining records and electronic devices seized in the raids on the grounds that many of them are protected by attorney-client privilege.CBS This Morning co-anchor Gayle King, left, Stormy Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti, CNN news anchor Don Lemon and FOX News talk show host Sean Hannity pose for a selfie at The Hollywood Reporter’s annual 35 Most Powerful People in Media event at The Pool on Thursday, April 12, 2018, in New York.
In court hearings on April 16, 2018, it was revealed that the client list of presidential lawyer Michael Cohen also includes Sean Hannity, one of the president’s biggest supporters.
1 of 18
2 of 18
3 of 18
4 of 18
5 of 18
6 of 18
7 of 18
8 of 18
9 of 18
10 of 18
11 of 18
12 of 18
13 of 18
14 of 18
15 of 18
16 of 18
17 of 18
18 of 18
Â