Michael Cohen's lawyer Lanny Davis says President Trump's behavior during a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki last month was his client's final straw.
Davis, who rose to prominence as an attorney and spokesperson for former President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, said Trump's summit with Putin in Helsinki, Finland, was the "straw that broke the camel's back" for Cohen. After that performance, Cohen "got very emotional," Davis said.
At a press conference, Trump cast doubt on the US intelligence community's assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election. He also attacked his Democratic opponents and the FBI, and he said when asked about the election meddling that he held both countries accountable for their state of relations.
But before the summit, Cohen "started to unload on me about Trump's suitability to be president, his temperament, the Twitter, the venom, the anger," Davis said.
Cohen, of course, was one of Trump's biggest boosters and closest allies during the presidential campaign. He earlier said he would "take a bullet" for Trump.
But Davis said Cohen eventually told him that "he never imagined in a million years that this man he knew and worried about as a businessman would ever be president of the United States."
Whether or not Cohen truly had a Helsinki-inspired change of heart is questionable, but it does appear his longstanding loyalty to and adulation of Trump has disappeared.
NPR:
"I know that Mr. Cohen would never accept a pardon from a man that he considers to be both corrupt and a dangerous person in the oval office," Davis told NPR's Morning Edition. "And [Cohen] has flatly authorized me to say under no circumstances would he accept a pardon from Mr. Trump."
Davis said that President Trump has used his pardon power to bail out "political cronies," and that Cohen "is not interested in being dirtied by a pardon from such a man."
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Asked whether Cohen is cooperating with the authorities, Davis told NPR that his client has information that Mueller might want, but he wouldn't go into specifics.
"If he [Cohen] tells the truth to the special counsel who talks to him, and I believe he will, he will have topics that in my opinion will be of interest to the special counsel in his Russian investigation and related topics," Davis said.
Trump, who has taken an increasingly caustic tone with Cohen, struck a sarcastic note on Twitter on Wednesday morning, saying: "If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don't retain the services of Michael Cohen!"
Trump went on to compare Cohen unfavorably with his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who was convicted on eight federal counts in a tax and bank fraud case the same afternoon Cohen pleaded guilty. Trump noted that the jury declared a mistrial on the remaining 10 counts against Manafort, whom Trump lauded Wednesday for having "refused to 'break' — make up stories in order to get a 'deal.' "
"Such respect for a brave man!" Trump said of Manafort, who faces a separate federal case next month in Washington, D.C.
Despite his disparate reactions to the Cohen and Manafort cases, Trump could exercise his presidential prerogative to pardon both men — a prerogative that Trump has shown little hesitation exercising since taking office.
Michael Cohen's attorney: The 'final straw' for Cohen was Trump's disastrous summit with Putin, and he now feels 'liberated' after making a deal with prosecutors (Business Insider)
Michael Cohen's Lawyer Says His Client Would Never Accept Pardon From 'Corrupt' Trump (NPR)