Trump says 'flipping' in criminal cases should be illegal and warns against impeachment
Trump commented on his former lawyer Michael Cohen pleading guilty in federal court, and warned that impeaching him would cause an economic crash
Donald Trump has suggested that cooperating with the government in a criminal case in exchange for a reduced sentence “almost ought to be illegal” while warning that impeaching him would cause an economic crash.
In an interview with the conservative Fox News channel, Trump commented on his former lawyer Michael Cohen pleading guilty to campaign tax violations in federal court in New York on Tuesday, during which he implicated the president in his crimes. And he also sent a warning signal about any attempt by the US Congress to oust him from the White House.
“If I ever got impeached, I think the market would crash. I think everybody would be very poor,” adding that Americans would see economic “numbers that you wouldn’t believe in reverse”. In characteristic ebullient style, he also doubted it will happen.
“I don’t know how you can impeach somebody who’s done a great job,” he said.
The ebullient interview came in the wake of the double legal denouement that unfolded in federal court rooms almost simultaneously in New York and Alexandria, Virginia, on the outskirts of Washington, on Tuesday afternoon. Cohen took a plea deal in one while a jury convicted Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, in his fraud trial, in the other.
The court outcomes immediately engulfed the Trump White House in its most serious internal crisis yet, drawing talk of whether the populist and inflammatory businessman turned president can survive.
Cohen has not at any stage so far agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow. But by making a plea deal, which has drawn the president’s wrath, he can expect a lighter sentence and could yet decide to cooperate with Mueller and ease his punishment further.
Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, meanwhile, was found guilty by a jury in a federal fraud trial, also on Tuesday, and Trump has since praised him for not “breaking” under pressure to cooperate with prosecutors.
This raises questions over whether a highly controversial presidential pardon could be on the horizon, although Trump has not said directly whether he is considering it.
In the interview with the Fox & Friends morning show on Thursday, Trump accused Cohen of implicating him to get a better deal with prosecutors. He said Cohen “makes a better deal when he uses me”. Cohen told the court he had been directed by the “candidate” – Trump’s name was never mentioned in court – to pay hush money to two women who allege they had affairs with him in the past.
“It’s called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal,” Trump said. “It’s not a fair thing, but that’s why he did it. He made a very good deal.”
Trump claimed people who decide to cooperate with the government “make up stories” and “just make up lies”.
He went on: “I’ve known all about flipping – for 30 or 40 years I’ve been watching flippers … I’ve had many friends involved in this stuff … you get 10 years in jail but if you say bad things about somebody, in other words make up stories if you don’t know, they just make up lies … and now they go from 10 years to they’re a national hero.”
But even as Trump accused Cohen of making up the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, he said in the same interview that he knew of the payments and also that he had made them.
“They didn’t come out of the campaign, they came from me. And I tweeted about it. You know, I put – I don’t know if you know but I tweeted about the payments. But they didn’t come out of the campaign.
“But they weren’t – that’s not a – it’s not even a campaign violation. If you look at President Obama, he had a massive campaign violation but he had a different attorney general and they viewed it a lot differently.”
Trump was apparently referring to a fine levied on the former president’s 2008 campaign over missing and delayed disclosure of high-dollar donors in the final days of that race.
In Alexandria, Virginia, on Tuesday afternoon Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, was found guilty of eight counts of fraud.
It was a double whammy to the solar plexus of the president.
“This is the worst hour of Trump’s entire presidency – no, make that entire life,” tweeted Norm Eisen, a former White House “ethics czar”.
On Thursday morning, Trump tweeted once again his most regular refrain during the legal turmoil engulfing his circle, posting, in all capitals: “No collusion – rigged witch hunt!”
Trump was asked whether he was considering pardoning Manafort, and he didn’t deny that it was an option but did not give a direct answer.
“I have great respect for what he’s done in terms of what he’s gone through,” Trump said.
“You know, he worked for Ronald Reagan for years, he worked for Bob Dole, he worked – I guess his firm worked for [Senator John] McCain. He worked for many, many people, many, many years.”
During Manafort’s trial, Rick Gates, a former campaign aide and deputy chairman of Trump’s inaugural committee, also confessed that he stole money both for and from Manafort.
Prosecutors also said the former national security adviser, Michael Flynn – who pleaded guilty last year to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials and his Turkish lobbying work – is not yet ready to be sentenced. This implies he might still be cooperating with the FBI.
And George Papadopoulos, Trump’s campaign adviser, has pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents about his contacts with Kremlin-connected Russians.
Five Trump associates have been found or have pleaded guilty. The thread that runs through them is Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The paradox is that, in casting his net wide, the special counsel has landed fish that – at first glance – have little to do with the central question of whether Trump colluded with Moscow. It is the Al Capone scenario: a mobster finally prosecuted for tax evasion rather than bloodier crimes.
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