Trump: Cohen pleaded guilty so he can ‘embarrass’ me
President Trump on Thursday heaped praise on himself and his supporters and lashed out at his perceived enemies and critics during an interview on Fox News.
He again attacked his longtime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen — who was sentenced to three years in federal prison Wednesday — accusing him of lying to get a better deal from special counsel Robert Mueller.
He also minimized Cohen’s role in his business empire — and said he only hired him because Cohen once did him a favor.
“Years ago, many years ago, he did me a favor. He was on a condominium committee many years ago,” the president said, vaguely describing an apparent dispute with residents of Trump World Tower.
“He was on the committee and I thought he was a great guy, he was very supportive. In retrospect, I made a mistake. It happens, I mean look it happens, I usually hire good people,” Trump said.
He said that Cohen pleaded guilty to federal crimes “to embarrass me,” calling his actions “pretty terrible stuff.”
He said he was confident of his re-election chances in 2020 despite Mueller’s ongoing Russia probe because his supporters were so loyal.
“The greatest base in the history of politics. That includes a lot of women. They’re the greatest. Last election, Hillary got trounced with women. The news and the polls are really fake, because I have the greatest base in history,” the president said. “My people love the job I’m doing.”
Trump got 41 percent of the women’s vote in the election, but did win a majority of white women.
The president also told host Harris Faulkner that his trade policies toward China were yielding great dividends for the US, and attacked General Motors for announcing the closure of plants and layoffs of thousands of employees.
Asked what qualities he was seeking in his next chief of staff, he replied: “I want somebody that’s strong and somebody who thinks like I do.”
And he patted himself on the back for abandoning the Paris climate accords — and blamed the pact for sparking recent riots in France.
“Because of the Paris accord, that whole country is burning down,” he said.