President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani trashed the president’s former longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, in the wake of federal prosecutors recommending “substantial” prison time for Cohen.
Giuliani told the Daily Beast on Friday that Cohen is “pathetic” and claimed Trump’s former lawyer “can’t handle jail.” Giuliani also said he felt “sorry for him,” but called his effort to avoid prison time “sad.”
Cohen could be facing nearly four years in prison for the campaign finance violations he pleaded guilty to in August. That plea deal implicated the president in payoffs to two women in exchange for their silence about affairs they allege they had with the president.
Federal prosecutors acknowledged in the court filings Friday that Cohen committed campaign finance crimes “in coordination with and at the direction of” Trump.
In a separate case brought by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, Cohen pleaded guilty last month to lying to Congress about plans for a Trump Tower project in Moscow.
The Special Counsel’s Office recommended that any sentence related to lying to Congress could be served concurrently with the sentence he receives in the New York case, citing Cohen’s cooperation.
On Monday, Trump called for his former lawyer to serve “a full and complete sentence.”
