LEGAL/MICHAEL COHEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/WOMEN: “President Trump distanced himself from his longtime lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, on Thursday [4-26-18], saying that a federal criminal investigation was focused on Mr. Cohen’s business dealings and had nothing to do with his legal representation of the president. The president acknowledged that Mr. Cohen represents him in connection with Stephanie Clifford, the pornographic film actress known as Stormy Daniels who has asserted that she had extramarital sexual relations with Mr. Trump. Mr. Cohen paid Ms. Clifford $130,000 shortly before the 2016 presidential election as part of what she now calls a ‘hush agreement.’ But Mr. Trump said Mr. Cohen did nothing wrong in that matter. Mr. Cohen handled just ‘a tiny, tiny little fraction’ of his legal work, Mr. Trump said… And his comments about Mr. Cohen were among his most extensive since the F.B.I. raided the lawyer’s office, apartment and hotel room after obtaining a warrant from a federal court. Mr. Trump complained on Twitter afterward that the raid meant that ‘attorney-client privilege is dead’ But his remarks on Fox suggested that the investigation did not involve Mr. Cohen’s legal work.”
-Peter Baker and Eileen Sullivan, “Trump Says Cohen’s Legal Troubles Do Not Involve Him,” The New York Times online, April 26, 2018