Michael Cohen believed President Donald Trump would pardon him if he faced any charges for maintaining his story about the payments to porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for the personal attorney's loyalty, sources have revealed.
Cohen, who is now the top witness in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, took a trip down to Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in March of this year, at the same time that the president was there.
By the time he flew back to New York, Cohen was under the impression that his longtime boss would pardon him if he found himself facing charges related to the porn star payments, a source confirmed to CNN.
The following month as Cohen's office and home were raided by the FBI, those close to the president reportedly reassured the attorney that Trump would protect him, another source told the outlet.
Cohen understood that to mean that he would be pardoned if he stuck to his story.
Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, insisted that the president 'never indicated anything to Michael, or anyone else, about getting a pardon.'
He said: 'Pardons are off the table, but it's not a limitation on his power in the future to pardon in any case.'
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Michael Cohen was under the impression that President Donald Trump would pardon him if he faced any charges for maintaining his story about payments to porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for the personal attorney's loyalty, sources have revealed
Trump was publicly supportive of Cohen at first, saying on the day of the raid that it was a 'disgraceful situation.
He also said his former attorney was 'a good man' and that the investigation had reached 'a whole new level of unfairness'.
However, one source claims their relationship quickly took a turn south in the days that followed as Trump began to distance himself from Cohen.
Two weeks after the raids he told Fox and Friends Cohen only did a 'tiny, tiny little fraction' of his legal work.
By that point Cohen, who once said he would 'take a bullet' for Trump, realized that the game had changed and acted to protect himself, according to the CNN source.
Cohen's relationship with Trump went sour after the personal attorney's home and office were raided in April and the president began to distance himself from the man who once said he'd take a bullet for him
Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts of campaign finance violations related to the Daniels payments as well as tax fraud and bank fraud in August of this year.
In his statement before the court, Cohen implicated Trump by saying he violated campaign finance laws 'in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office for the principal purpose of influencing the election' for president in 2016.
If that information was shared with Mueller's team during the more than 70 hours of testimony Cohen has provided over the last few months, it could be used as part of the obstruction of justice probe in determining whether Trump was trying to illegally influence a witness in the investigation.
On Thursday Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the Russia investigation and has asked to receive no prison time in exchange for his cooperation.
A new trail of court documents this week established Trump as a critical figure in the Russia probe for the first time – with the conspicuous new legal branding as 'Individual 1.'
Trump is featured in the government 'information' that prosecutors released Thursday in connection with former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen's guilty plea to lying to Congress.
In the information, Cohen states that he was not truthful when he said he only spoke to 'Individual 1' – Trump – three times about a proposal to build a gleaming Trump World Tower in Moscow.
On Saturday morning Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman displayed what he says are two emails from Cohen asking for help getting the Trump Tower Moscow project off the ground.
Cohen last year acknowledged sending the emails to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in January 2016, but said he killed the proposal after talking to Peskov's office.
This week he confessed that he continued to pursue the deal on Trump's behalf during the heat of the campaign.
Peskov, who is with Putin at an international summit in Argentina, said Saturday: 'We told them that the presidential administration isn't involved in construction projects, and if they are interested in making investments we will be glad to see them at St. Petersburg's economic forum.'
Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the Russia investigation on Thursday
Cohen's charging documents established President Donald Trump as a critical figure in the Russia probe for the first time – with the conspicuous new legal branding as 'Individual 1'
Trump's designation as 'Individual 1', common in government charging documents that seek to keep out the identities of other people who have not been charged with a crime, brings the president in closer to the Russia probe, despite his frequent protestations that he did nothing wrong, that there was 'no collusion,' and that special counsel Robert Mueller's probe is a 'witch hunt.'
Trump hasn't been charged with any crime, and the courts would have to decide whether he could even be indicted as a sitting president.
Trump also figures in a draft charging document that emerged earlier this week for conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi, who is being investigated for his alleged contacts with WikiLeaks. It states that Corsi knew longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone was in 'regular contact' with Trump.
Trump has flatly denied having Russia dealings in July 2016 – even though Cohen's information states that he was engaged in conversations about it through June of that year.
'For the record, I have ZERO investments in Russia,' Trump tweeted in July 2016, the Washington Post noted.
Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani once again pushed back against the Mueller probe on Friday, this time taking to Twitter and referencing conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi, who says he turned down a plea offer from Mueller's team that would have him admit to perjury.
'Hysterical coverage of Cohen plea. It misses point that, once again like Corsi leaked documents demonstrate, Mueller’s crew has no evidence of collusion. Along the way,however,he is keeping America safe from false statement makers or people with faulty memories or both,' Giuliani wrote.
The president condemned Cohen as a liar on Thursday, less than an hour after his longtime legal confidant pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about Trump's exploration of a real estate venture in Russia during the entire time he was slicing through the 2016 Republican primary field.
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https://hienalouca.com/2018/12/01/michael-cohen-believed-trump-would-pardon-him-in-exchange-for-loyalty/
Main photo article Michael Cohen believed President Donald Trump would pardon him if he faced any charges for maintaining his story about the payments to porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for the personal attorney’s loyalty, sources have revealed.
Cohen, who is now the top witness in special counsel...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/11/29/15/6799172-6442641-image-m-50_1543505297837.jpg
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