Page 23 of the transcript of Michael Cohen's remarks in court Tuesday shows exactly how President Trump's longtime personal attorney placed part of the blame for his criminal campaign finance activity on the president.
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On page 24, Cohen admits he knew what he was doing was illegal.
Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, speaking at Wednesday's White House briefing, insisted repeatedly, "President Trump did nothing wrong, and there are no charges against him. Just because Michael Cohen made a deal doesn't mean anything in regard to the president."
Asked if the president feels betrayed, Sanders said, "I don't think the president is concerned at all. He did nothing wrong. There is no collusion."
She repeated the same when confronted with the fact that the president claimed in a Fox News interview not to know about the Cohen-brokered payments to Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels prior to his making them even though Cohen told the court otherwise and has released an audio recording of the two men discussing the payments in advance.
A reporter followed up by asking, "When did he learn about them, and are there any other payments?" to which Sanders replied, "I've addressed all I am going to, and I would refer you to outside counsel."
When questioned about Michael Cohen's lawyer offering more damaging information to the special counsel, Sanders said she is not aware of any evidence Cohen has that the president knew about campaign hacking in advance.
Sanders also responded to questions about the Paul Manafort verdict and said repeatedly it had nothing to do with the president, the campaign, or the White House. When asked if Trump might consider pardoning his former campaign chairman, Sanders claimed Manafort being a candidate for a presidential pardon was not something that was up for consideration.
Read Michael Cohen's plea in which he implicates President Trump (CNN)