Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
President Trump this morning said his former lawyer and campaign chairman, both now convicted felons, are actually guilty of little or nothing.
Between the lines: Within an hour, the president seemed to open the possibility of a pardon for Paul Manafort — which would likely only increase suspicion of wrongdoing by the president. At the same time, he has both accused Michael Cohen of making up stories to clinch a deal as well as insisted that the campaign finance violations Cohen pleaded guilty to are not crimes.
While Trump started off his morning of executive time with a lower-key insult toward Michael Cohen, his tweets quickly turned into a full on tirade:
Be smart, regarding Trump's assertion that "President Obama had a big campaign finance violation and it was easily settled!":
- Obama's 2008 campaign did have to pay one of the largest fines of any presidential campaign for failing to give adequate notice of around 1,300 campaign contributions totaling more than $1.8 million, Politico reported at the time. That's a very different kind of violation than using campaign funds as hush money for women accusing the candidate of having an affair.