Attorney: Cohen would not accept a pardon from Trump

Lanny Davis, an attorney representing Michael Cohen, said Wednesday that Cohen “would never accept” a pardon from President Trump after pleading guilty in Manhattan court to tax fraud and campaign finance law violations.

“Not only is he not hoping for it, he would not accept a pardon,” Davis said on NBC’s “Today.”

“He considers a pardon from somebody who has acted so corruptly as president to be something he would never accept,” Davis added.

“He’s [Cohen] turned his life from what he did for Donald Trump, much of which he now regrets…but he decided, fundamentally, that his family and his country were his priorities.”

Watch Michael Cohen’s lawyer Lanny Davis’ full interview with @savannahguthrie pic.twitter.com/h4T4Zexc8v

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) August 22, 2018

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The White House previously did not rule out the possibility that Trump would pardon his former personal attorney and fixer.

Cohen on Tuesday pleaded guilty to bank fraud, tax fraud and campaign finance law violations in the Southern District of New York.

While reviewing the charges, Cohen told the judge that he made two six-figure payments to women at the direction of a candidate for federal office, essentially implicating the president. 

Cohen did not refer to Trump by name during the proceedings, but his comments match the accounts of payments to adult-film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both women have said they were paid to remain quiet about alleged affairs with the president.

Davis, a former columnist for The Hill, said Wednesday that Cohen regrets some of his work for Trump, but has decided “that his family and his country were his priorities.”

“He certainly found Donald Trump as president to be unsuitable to hold the office after Helsinki,” Davis said, referring to a summit earlier this year with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “He worried about the future of our country with somebody who was aligning himself with Mr. Putin.”

Cohen’s plea and implication of the president marks a stark reversal for a man who said last September he would “take a bullet” for the president. He spent years working for the Trump Organization, and until recently served as the deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Davis said following Cohen’s guilty plea that his client would be “more than happy” to speak with special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Cohen’s plea agreement does not stipulate that he cooperate with investigators, but does not preclude him from doing so.