The outspoken US President remained calm in the wake of calls to have him charged with misconduct and confidently announced it would be impossible to impeach “somebody who hasn’t done anything wrong and who’s created the greatest economy in the history of our country”. When pressed on whether he had any concerns about being thrown out of office over payments made by Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal over alleged affairs they had with the President, he replied simply with “I’m not concerned, no. I think that the people would revolt if that happened”. Mr Trump also blasted Mr Cohen, who will be sentenced today after pleading guilty to tax evasion, making false statements to a bank, and illegal finance violations during Mr Trump’s election campaign. After claiming Mr Cohen told lies to prosecutors in New York to get a lighter sentence, he called for a harsher prison term for his ex-lawyer, adding he should have known the laws when it came to campaign finance violations.
Mr Trump said: “Michael Cohen is a lawyer. I assume he would know what he’s doing.
“Number one, it wasn’t a campaign contribution. If it were, it’s only civil, and even if it’s only civil, there was no violation based on what we did.”
Prosecutors argued Mr Cohen had “coordinated with one or more members of the campaign, including through meetings and phone calls, about the fact, nature and timing of the payments”.
In the court documents, Mr Trump is being referred to as “Individual-1” and one of the members of the campaign.
A reason for mr Trump’s unaffiliated attitude towards the case could be that Department of Justice guidelines state a sitting president cannot be indicted.
The news follows an order made by the court that Ms Daniels must pay an eye-watering $294,000 (£234,426) towards Mr Trump’s legal fees after her defamation lawsuit against him was rejected.
In a Tuesday statement Charles J Harder, the President’s legal counsel, said: “The US District Court today ordered Stormy Daniels to pay President Trump $293,052.33 to reimburse his attorneys’ fees (75 percent of his total legal bill).
“Plus, an additional $1,000 in sanctions to punish Daniels for having filed a meritless lawsuit against the President designed to chill his free speech rights.
“The court’s order, along with the court’s prior order dismissing Stormy Daniels’ defamation case against the President, together constitute a total victory for the President, and a total defeat for Stormy Daniels in this case.”
Mr Trump’s lawyers asked a US court earlier this month for almost $800,000 in legal fees and penalties from Ms Daniels.