Double-Crosser Michael Cohen Just Got Double-Crossed by His Clinton Crony Lawyer
Michael Cohen is not a fount of great decisions. So, when he decided to bring on Lanny Davis — a Clinton political operative — as his lawyer, I figured it was par for the course.
I was right. Davis has been responsible for a number of faux pas during his time representing Cohen, but perhaps none so much his apparent decision to double-cross his client on the issue of attorney-client privilege.
Which is kind of interesting, considering Cohen double-crossed the president on attorney-client privilege.
So, during Michael Cohen’s testimony to Congress, Cohen swore that he wasn’t looking for a pardon from the president, nor did he solicit one.
“I have never asked for it, nor would I accept a pardon from President Trump,” he said during his opening statements to the House Oversight Committee, according to The Washington Post.
Whether that’s legally defensible or not, Cohen just got thrown under every bus leaving Grand Central Station regarding the impression that it left.
In a statement to The New York Times published on reporter Maggie Haberman’s Twitter account, Davis says that Cohen had told his lawyer to “explore” the possibility of a pardon.
“Prior to Michael Cohen’s decision to leave the ‘Joint Defense Group’ and tell the truth on July 2, 2018, Michael was open to the ongoing ‘dangling’ of a possible pardon by Trump representatives privately and in the media,” Davis said in the Thursday statement.
“During that time period, he directed his attorney to explore possibilities of a pardon at one point with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani as well as other lawyers advising President Trump.
“But after July 2, 2018, Mr. Cohen authorized me as a new lawyer to say publicly Mr. Cohen would never accept a pardon from President Trump even if offered,” Davis’ statement continued.
“That continues to be the case. And his statement at the Oversight Hearing was true – and consistent with his post joint defense agreement commitment to tell the truth.”
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 7, 2019
There is an obvious impetus behind Davis’ statement: a Wednesday article in The Times in which presidential lawyer Rudy Giuliani said lawyers had approached him for pardons, albeit without naming names.
“Mr. Giuliani declined to identify the lawyers who broached the subject with him or their clients,” the article noted.
“He made his statement in response to questions about Mr. Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen, who has told federal prosecutors in Manhattan about pardon discussions last year that involved Mr. Giuliani and a lawyer who was expressing interest in representing Mr. Cohen, according to people briefed on the matter.
“The disclosure from Mr. Giuliani — and the new details about pardon discussions involving Mr. Cohen — highlighted again the continued questions about Mr. Trump’s pardon power and how he might use it as the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III; other federal prosecutors; and Democrats in Congress investigate his political and business careers.”
However, it again highlighted Cohen’s congressional testimony. The best thing for any lawyer to do in this case would be to shut up. That raises serious questions about what Davis’ motives were.
Did Cohen direct him to issue the statement? I can’t think of a possible circumstance that would make him do so, although I certainly can’t rule it out. Primarily, it makes Cohen look like more of a liar than he already does, which is precisely what he doesn’t need right now. Even if what he said was technically the truth, it certainly doesn’t feel like the whole truth if this is the case.
The obvious reason to bring this up is that Davis is a longtime member of the Clinton orbit, which means he has an agenda to push. In this case, keeping the idea that President Trump is sitting in the Oval Office, mulling over who to pardon to keep people quiet, is exactly the image he wants the media to be taking away from this. It keeps the collusion narrative alive, even when his client couldn’t provide a bit of evidence for collusion.
Then again, there have been more than a few moments during this whole saga where it’s appeared Davis has been in it for reasons other than protecting his client.
In the middle of last year, CNN ran a story that Cohen was saying President Trump had advance knowledge of the meeting at Trump Tower between members of the Trump campaign and shadowy Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. Cohen denied the rumor and Davis, rumored to be the source behind the story, appeared on CNN to swear he wasn’t.
And then he told BuzzFeed News shortly thereafter that he was the source for the story.
“I made a mistake,” Davis said at the time.
The “mistakes” have apparently kept on coming, it seems. At the time of that story, I noted that “I guess lawyers with diminished credibility often flock to same.” Little did I know how right I was.
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