Donald Trump’s presidency has been dragged further into chaos after his former campaign manager and personal lawyer were both convicted of financial crimes.
To make matters worse for Trump and his supporters, the president’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen implicated him over campaign finance violations, saying he broke the law at Trump’s direction.
Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort was also convicted of eight counts of bank and tax fraud. Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts of fraud, including campaign finance violations ahead of the 2016 presidential election as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors. Cohen is one of Trump’s closest associates.
Cohen also admitted that he worked “with and at the direction of the same candidate” to deliver a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to silence her claims about an affair. This is the centre of an ongoing legal case.
Today he stood up and testified under oath that Donald Trump directed him to commit a crime by making payments to t… https://t.co/Z305VwuoK7— Lanny Davis (@Lanny Davis) 1534889170
"The fact that Michael Cohen is pleading guilty is just an enormous development in the history of the Trump Preside… https://t.co/XnteD6AeT9— Robert Maguire (@Robert Maguire) 1534880495
Naturally, given that Trump supporters love to chant “lock her up” about his rival Hillary Clinton, and that he once told her if he was in charge she’d “be in jail”, the news that the president could potentially be implicated in a crime has brought joy to his many, many detractors.
Here’s how the internet reacted.
Michael Cohen 6 months ago: I would take a bullet for President Trump Michael Cohen today: https://t.co/V1jzOdWe77— non-ficshawn🌵 (@non-ficshawn🌵) 1534881063
Trump’s new legal strategy: https://t.co/uJkiuqtMfr— Ben Wexler (@Ben Wexler) 1534882518
I love how media just casually refers to Michael Cohen as Trump’s “Fixer.” I don’t have a “Fixer.” I’ve never met… https://t.co/JQvbvuDZra— Brianna Wu (@Brianna Wu) 1534877481
Probably safe to say that Donald Trump running for President was the worst thing that ever happened to Michael Cohen.— Josh Marshall (@Josh Marshall) 1534908572
I'm thinking Trump felt this way today after Michael Cohen plead guilty. https://t.co/Lq6NN5lt3i— Rogelio Garcia Lawyer (@Rogelio Garcia Lawyer) 1534914230