Trump Takes Aim at Michael Cohen After Guilty Plea

By Rebecca Rubin

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – President Donald Trump took a jab at his former longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen after Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts in federal court on Tuesday.

“If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of !” the president wrote Wednesday morning on Twitter.

This was the first time Trump addressed Cohen’s plea. Among his multiple criminal accounts include tax evasion, bank fraud, and campaign finance violations related to payments made to women who claim to have affairs with the president. Two of the counts relate directly to Trump, as Cohen admitted to making payments to two women “in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office.”

Robert Khuzami, the deputy U.S. attorney in New York, said the two campaign finance violations were for causing and unlawful corporate contribution and making an excessive personal contributions. Cohen did not directly name Trump, though he said the payments were made to influence the outcome of the election. Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal claimed to have affairs with Trump in 2006. Cohen facilitated a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels on behalf of Trump in October of 2016.

Cohen’s plea agreement includes a hefty fine, along with the possibility of facing four to five years in prison. It did not include cooperation with prosecutors.