ABC News(WASHINGTON) — Michael Cohen, once President Trump’s longtime attorney and confidant, is now a target of of the president’s Twitter feed after he requested leniency in the courts on Friday for cooperating with the special counsel.
Cohen pleaded guilty to making false statements during his testimony to Congress about Trump business dealings with Russia. On Friday, his attorneys requested “time served” for his ongoing cooperation with the courts and cited the president’s personal attacks and relationships with family and friends in a 33-page sentencing filing.
The president on Monday blasted Cohen for his request and said he should “serve a full and complete sentence.”
“Michael Cohen asks judge for no Prison Time,” Trump complained on Twitter.
“You mean he can do all of the TERRIBLE, unrelated to Trump, things having to do with fraud, big loans, Taxis, etc., and not serve a long prison term? He makes up stories to get a GREAT & ALREADY reduced deal for himself, and get…his wife and father-in-law (who has the money?) off Scott Free [sic]. He lied for this outcome and should, in my opinion, serve a full and complete sentence.”
Cohen was a longtime fixer for the president and managed both business and private dealings for Trump ranging from real estate to his alleged extramarital affairs. Cohen earlier pleaded guilty to campaign finance fraud for his payments to Trump’s alleged mistresses and testified that he and Trump continued to talk about Russia business dealings throughout the campaign.
The president, who famously values loyalty, has taken personal offense to Cohen’s cooperation with the special counsel. Before taking off for the G-20 in Buenos Aires, the president stopped on the White House South lawn to sound off on Cohen as “weak” and a liar.
“He’s a weak person. He’s lying, very simply to get a reduced sentence,” Trump said.
The president praised another longtime adviser, Roger Stone, for saying he would not testify against the president.
“‘I will never testify against Trump.’ This statement was recently made by Roger Stone, essentially stating that he will not be forced by a rogue and out of control prosecutor to make up lies and stories about “President Trump.” Nice to know that some people still have ‘guts!’,” the president tweeted.
Stone appeared on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” on Sunday and said he would refuse to go against the president.
“There’s no circumstance under which I would testify against the president because I’d have to bear false witness against him. I’d have to make things up and I’m not going to do that,” Stone said.
The president has complained extensively about the special counsel’s work in recent weeks as the probe appears to be reaching its conclusion.
“Bob Mueller (who is a much different man than people think) and his out of control band of Angry Democrats, don’t want the truth, they only want lies. The truth is very bad for their mission!” Trump tweeted on Monday morning.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders called the special counsel “the Russian Witch Hunt Hoax” in an official statement while the president was in Argentina and said it is “hopefully now nearing an end.”
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