CNN legal analyst Shan Wu: ‘The president creates new witnesses against himself every single day’
CNN legal analyst Shan Wu on Monday said President Trump “creates new witnesses against himself every single day” in special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing probe.
“If you look at the number of people who’ve been interviewed by the special counsel’s office, that tells you something,” Wu said on “CNN Newsroom.” “It tells you that they have no control over who becomes a witness.”
{mosads}”The president creates new witnesses against himself every single day,” Wu continued. “They have no idea who’s gonna be a witness.”
Wu during the segment offered his analysis of Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen’s sentencing memo, which was released publicly last week.
In the memo, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York said for the first time that Cohen acted “in coordination with and at the direction” of Trump when he organized nondisclosure payments to two women alleging affairs with Trump.
Cohen has pleaded guilty to two campaign finance violations in connection with the payoff schemes.
Wu said the memo is a “smoking gun” linking Trump himself to the alleged campaign finance violations.
“The Southern District is accusing the president. By agreeing with Cohen, the court’s accepting … that the president did engage in that,” Wu said.
Wu added that he believes the White House is “completely unprepared” to deal with the seriousness of the contents of the memo.
“[This White House] has demonstrated time and time again, they don’t have the discipline,” Wu said. “They couldn’t possibly run a war room.”
The latest filing suggests that U.S. prosecutors have evidence showing that Trump directed the payments beyond Cohen’s claims.
Trump on Monday said Democrats are “wrongly” calling a “simple private transaction” a “campaign contribution,” referring to payments made by Cohen.
In a pair of early-morning tweets, Trump claimed that a payment by Michael Cohen was “done correctly,” adding that he would not be liable if it was done incorrectly, and that Cohen was “just trying to get his sentence reduced.”
Wu said Trump’s strategy in dealing with the fallout from Mueller’s investigation so far has been “misdirection and denial.”
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