LEGAL/MICHAEL COHEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WOMEN: “President Trump on Wednesday [8-22-18] slammed his former longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen for striking a plea deal with federal prosecutors admitting to campaign finance violations and implicating the president…At the same time, the president tweeted in support of ex-campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was found guilty on eight tax and bank fraud counts just as the Cohen plea deal was being finalized. Amid speculation of a possible pardon for Manafort, Trump praised him for not striking a deal with prosecutors — and accused Cohen of making up stories to get one. Cohen, once seen as one of Trump’s most loyal advisers, admitted Tuesday to violating federal campaign finance laws by arranging hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal ‘at the direction’ of then-candidate Trump during the 2016 race. In entering the plea, Cohen did not specifically name the two women or even Trump, recounting instead that he worked with an ‘unnamed candidate.’ But the amounts and the dates all lined up with the payments made to Daniels and McDougal.”
–Alex Pappas, “Trump blasts Michael Cohen over plea deal, praises Manafort,” Fox News, August 22, 2018