Want to know just how dire Michael Cohen’s situation is? Even if you accept Rudy Giuliani’s claim that Cohen didn’t break campaign finance law by arranging the $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, Cohen’s legal career is on life support.
Giuliani doubled down on this line yet again when he chatted with Judge Jeanine last night. Watch here.
Giuliani maintains that since Trump reimbursed Cohen for the payment, it was perfectly legal. No, Rudy. Since Trump didn’t report that reimbursement, it would be illegal.
But unless I missed something, Pirro didn’t press Giuliani on his earlier claim that, at least as far as he knew, Trump didn’t know he was actually reimbursing Cohen for the payment.
By way of review, this is what he told John Roberts on Wednesday night.
Giuliani subsequently clarified this—sort of—in a statement on Saturday.
So if you buy this line, Cohen arranged the payment himself, and then had Trump reimburse him for it, though Trump didn’t know he was actually reimbursing him for it. If I’m reading this right, these are pretty egregious ethical violations.
Remember, when Cohen claimed he arranged the payment on his own, a number of legal experts pointed out that if this was true, it violated New York state bar rules that bar lawyers from offering financial assistance to their clients. And if Trump didn’t know he was reimbursing Cohen for the payment, Cohen broke another rule that requires lawyers to keep their clients informed on such important matters.
It’s hard to believe that Pirro didn’t call Giuliani on this. Remember, Pirro was a prosecutor for 15 years, a judge for three years, and a DA for 12 years. Apparently neither she nor Giuliani realize that by taking this current line, Giuliani put Cohen in serious danger of being disbarred.