Stormy Daniels scandal still...

Trump says Cohen 'represented me' in Stormy Daniels scandal

By QUINT FORGEY

Donald Trump said Thursday that attorney Michael Cohen "represented me" by cutting a deal with porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, after the president previously said he didn't know about the "hush money" payment.

Trump also tried to distance himself from Cohen, who is currently under federal criminal investigation related to his business dealings.

“Let me just tell you, Michael is in business — he is really a businessman, a fairly big business, as I understand it,” Trump told the hosts of "Fox & Friends" in a phone interview. “I don't know his business, but this doesn't have to do with me. Michael is a businessman. He has got a business. He also practices law.”

Trump said Cohen represented “a percentage of my overall legal work — a tiny, tiny little fraction."

"But Michael would represent me and represent me on some things. He represents me like with this crazy Stormy Daniels deal, he represented me," he said.

Earlier this month, Trump said he did not know about the $130,000 payment Cohen has acknowledged making to Daniels during the 2016 campaign in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual interaction with Trump a decade earlier.

Asked by reporters aboard Air Force One whether he knew about the payment Cohen made to Daniels, Trump replied: “No.”

Cohen's legal troubles burst into public view earlier this month, when FBI agents overseen by the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan executed a series of raids on Cohen’s Rockefeller Center office, Park Avenue apartment, and a hotel room Cohen was using. Trump called the raids a "witch hunt" and said "attorney-client privilege is dead."

But while he said on Thursday that Cohen "represented" him in the Daniels scandal, Trump insisted he is “not involved” in a pending civil lawsuit brought against Cohen by Daniels that seeks to void the $130,000 “hush money” deal.

Trump said that he is represented by many attorneys — “so many attorneys you wouldn't even believe it” — and that Cohen’s involvement in his legal affairs is extremely limited.

Cohen on Wednesday indicated that he planned to assert his Fifth Amendment right not to testify in connection with the civil suit.

"Based upon the advice of counsel, I will assert my 5th Amendment rights in connection with all proceedings in this case due to the ongoing criminal investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York," Cohen wrote in a statement filed with Judge S. James Otero.

Trump said Cohen's "lawyers probably told him to do that."

"But I'm not involved and I'm not involved — and I've been told I'm not involved," Trump said Thursday. "From what I understand, they're looking at his businesses. And I hope he is in great shape."

Cohen's decision to plead the Fifth Amendment was "a stunning development," remarked Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti.

"Never before in our nation’s history has the attorney for the sitting President invoked the 5th Amend in connection with issues surrounding the President. It is esp. stunning seeing as MC served as the 'fixer' for Mr. Trump for over 10 yrs." Avenatti wrote on Twitter.