Cohenile mõisteti vanglakaristus mitme kuriteo eest, sealjuures vaikimisraha maksmise eest kahele Trumpi ekskallimale, vahendas BBC.

Kohtudokumentide kohaselt oli Trump otseselt seotud käsu andmisega Cohenile teha 280 000 dollari väärtuses ebaseaduslikke makseid pornostaar Stormy Danielsile ja Playboy modellile Karen McDougalile, et tagada nende vaikimine väidetavate seksuaalsuhete kohta.

Cohen ütles kolmapäevasel istungil, et "pime lojaalsus" Trumpile juhtis ta eksiteele. "Ma tundsin, et see on minu kohustuseks peita tema räpaste tegude jälgi," lisas Cohen. 

Trump kirjutas neljapäeval reas Twitteri-postitustes, et ta ei ole seoses kampaania finantsreeglitega midagi valesti teinud.

Trumpi hinnangul ei ole Cohen tegelikult kampaaniareeglite rikkumises süüdi, kuid ta tunnistas end süüdi, kuna see oli talle kasulik.

"Ta oli advokaat ja ta peaks teadma seadust," kirjutas Trump, lisades, et Cohen tunnistas end süüdi selleks, et presidenti häbistada.

I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law. It is called "advice of counsel," and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. That is why they get paid. Despite that many campaign finance lawyers have strongly......

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018

....stated that I did nothing wrong with respect to campaign finance laws, if they even apply, because this was not campaign finance. Cohen was guilty on many charges unrelated to me, but he plead to two campaign charges which were not criminal and of which he probably was not...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018

....guilty even on a civil basis. Those charges were just agreed to by him in order to embarrass the president and get a much reduced prison sentence, which he did-including the fact that his family was temporarily let off the hook. As a lawyer, Michael has great liability to me!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018