Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, has hired Clinton White House official Lanny Davis, according to reports.
“Michael Cohen deserves to tell his side of the story – subject, of course to the advice of counsel,” Davis, a crisis management specialist, said in a statement obtained by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman Thursday.
In response to Davis’s hiring, Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal attorney, said he made “nothing,” of the move. “He should have the attorneys who he has the most confidence in,” he said in a brief statement.
The announcement follows Cohen’s interview with ABC News Monday in which he told host George Stephanopoulos that his loyalty towards his “family and country,” come first. “To be crystal clear, my wife, my daughter and my son, and this country have my first loyalty,” he said.
His remarks fanned speculation about whether Cohen possesses incriminating material on President Trump and whether he will “flip” on his former boss, with remarks sharply at odds with a past declaration that he would “take a bullet for the president.”
The FBI raided his home and office in April on a referral from special counsel Robert Mueller, who is looking into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow. President Trump has strongly criticized the raid on his former personal lawyer, describing it as a “disgrace.”
“It’s an attack on our country in a true sense. It’s an attack on what we all stand for,” President Trump said in April.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating Cohen for alleged violations of election law and possible financial crimes. He has not yet been arrested or charged with any crime.
Cohen, who became Donald Trump’s personal lawyer in 2007, reportedly paid $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election to keep quiet about her alleged 2006 affair with the real estate billionaire. President Trump has denied the relationship.
Cohen said this week he would defer to his new lawyer, former federal prosecutor Guy Petrillo, “for guidance” once he learns what charges, if any, he will face. “I am not a villain of this story, and I will not allow others to try to depict me that way,” Cohen told ABC News.“I want to regain my name and my reputation and my life back,” he added.
The Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.
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