More revisionist history from Trump. His own DOJ sent Michael Cohen to prison, in part for his participation in an illegal conspiuracy to disguise reimbursements as a legitimate "legal expense"...
From the 2018 release from SDNY regarding the charges Michael Cohen plead guilty to...
The 3rd of 3 charges Cohen admitted he was guilty of...
"Finally, in 2016, COHEN made or caused two separate payments to two women to ensure that they did not publicly disclose their alleged affairs with a presidential candidate in advance of the election."
As to the claims by Trump that it was "legal expenses"... From the Dec 2018 release by DA SDNY on Cohen's crimes...
"COHEN was reimbursed for the latter payment in monthly installments disguised as payments for legal services performed pursuant to a retainer, when in fact no such retainer existed. COHEN made or caused both of these payments in order to influence the 2016 election and did so in coordination with one or more members of the campaign. "
This was NOT Democrats. This was from the office of lifelong GOP and Trump appointed DA SDNY Geoffrey Berman. When Berman got too close to digging into which member of the campaign Cohen "coordinated with" and the investigation led him towards "unindicted co-conspirator # 1 (Trump), Trump had Barr fire Berman and replace him with a Trump loyalist...
That and the deliberate delaying tactics of Trump sycohants among the SDNY is the reason Trump was never prosecuted for crimes related to offenses that Cohen in part went to prison for. Trump was never "innocent", he just gamed the system...
You can't claim that the payments were for "legal services" when your fellow conspirator already went to prison for acknowledging that he in fact took part in a conspiracy to disguise reimbursements as "legal services". Esp when it was your own DOJ that determined (in 2018) that that was exactly what happened...[/MEDIA]