President Donald Trump let loose on Twitter this morning, tweeting his high opinion of Paul Manafort while sharply criticizing his former lawyer, Michael Cohen.
“If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!” the president tweeted .
The criticism follows Cohen’s decision to plead guilty to tax evasion, campaign finance violations, and bank fraud, according to NBC News . He also admitted making payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal “at the direction” of an unnamed candidate in 2016. Both women claim to have had an affair with the president.
Cohen’s lawyer confirmed in a statement that the unnamed candidate is Donald Trump, according to Deadline .
During his plea agreement, Cohen was asked by the court if he knew what he was doing was illegal. Cohen said he did know that the payments were illegal.
The president went on to tweet that Cohen pled guilty to campaign finance violations that “are not a crime.”
“President Obama had a big campaign finance violation and it was easily settled!” he tweeted.
According to NBC News , this is most likely a reference to a $375,000 fine against Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign for not reporting over 1,000 campaign contributions.
President Trump also tweeted his support of Paul Manafort, who was found guilty on five counts of filing false tax returns, two counts of bank fraud, and one count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account, according to CNN .
If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2018
“I feel very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family. ‘Justice’ took a 12 year old [sic] tax case, among other things, applied tremendous pressure on him and, unlike Michael Cohen, he refused to ‘break’ – make up stories in order to get a ‘deal.’ Such respect for a brave man!” the president tweeted .
He also described the Manafort trial as a “Witch Hunt.”
A large number of counts, ten, could not even be decided in the Paul Manafort case. Witch Hunt!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2018
The judge in the Manafort case declared a mistrial on an additional 10 charges, and Manafort may face up to nine years in prison, according to NBC News .
The tweets follow news that Michael Cohen would not accept a presidential pardon, according to his lawyer, Lenny Davis, in an interview with NBC News .
According to Davis, Cohen would not accept a pardon from the president because he acted “corruptly.”
In April, Trump described Cohen as “a fine person with a wonderful family.” He tweeted his confidence that Cohen would not “flip.”
“Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!” he tweeted .