Ex-Trump lawyer implicates president in hush payments

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump's longtime personal lawyer pled guilty Tuesday to a bevy of charges, implicating the president in campaign finance violations.

During a brief court appearance in New York, Michael Cohen, 51, reportedly told District Judge William Pauley he made hush money payments to an adult film actress and a former Playboy model "at the direction" of Trump with the intent to "influence the election."

Cohen did not name the two women, nor did he directly name Trump, but said he was working "in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office."

The timeline, however, matches up with Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy playmate Karen McDougal who allege affairs with Trump.

The president has denied having the affairs, and he and his team have denied he had any knowledge of the payments before they were made.

Cohen, who faced five tax evasion charges, and one count each of making a false statement to a federally insured bank, causing an unlawful corporate contribution, and making an excessive campaign contribution, will be sentenced in December.

He will be looking at between four to five years behind bars.

The explosive revelations are just part of a very bad day for Trump.

Paul Manafort, his former campaign chairman, was found guilty Tuesday of eight of the 18 federal charges brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Manafort was convicted of five tax fraud charges, two bank fraud charges and one count of hiding foreign bank accounts. The 68-year-old Manafort essentially faces a life sentence, facing a maximum of 80 years in prison. The convictions are the first major trial victory for Mueller's team, which is probing possible collusion between the Trump campaign team and an alleged Russian effort to influence the 2016 election.

A federal judge declared a mistrial on the additional 10 counts Manafort faced following four days of jury deliberations. It is unclear if prosecutors will seek to retry the remaining charges.

One of Manafort 's lawyers who spoke to reporters outside of the courthouse in northern Virginia, said his client is "disappointed in not getting acquittals all the way through," and said Manafort is "evaluating all of his options at this point."

Manafort faces a separate case in the District of Columbia.

Trump and his team have repeatedly blasted Mueller’s investigation, calling it a "witch hunt”. But it has led to the indictments of more than 30 individuals, including a dozen Russian intelligence officers and a Dutch national.

Trump continued to reiterate the "witch hunt" claim during = remarks to reporters in West Virginia where he is participating in a campaign-style rally.

"Paul Manafort’s a good man," he said. "It’s a very sad thing that happened. This has nothing to do with Russian collusion. This started as Russian collusion, this has absolutely nothing to do, this is a witch hunt that ends in disgrace. But this has nothing to do what they started out, looking for Russians involved in our campaign. There were none."

"I feel very badly for Paul Manafort."

He did not answer questions about Cohen, who he worked with for the better part of the past two decades stretching to his time as a real estate mogul and reality television star.

*Umar Farooq contributed to this report