On Friday night, Donald Trump declared he was totally cleared by the Michael Cohen documents in a 6-word tweet reading simply: “Totally clears the President. Thank you!”
Which is odd, because he wasn’t.
Totally clears the President. Thank you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2018 [1]
The Southern District of New York Memo read, in part, “Cohen, an attorney and businessman committed four distinct federal crimes over a period of several years. He was motivated to do so by personal greed, and repeatedly used his power and influence for deceptive ends. Now he seeks extraordinary leniency – a sentence of no jail time – based principally on his rose-colored view of the seriousness of the crimes.”
The memo also makes reference multiple times to “Individual -1,” identified as Donald Trump, reading, “Cohen publicly and privately took credit for Individual-1’s political success, claiming – in a conversation that he secretly recorded – that he ‘started the whole thing …started the whole campaign’ in 2012 when Individual-1 expressed an interest in running for President.”
It is unclear how exactly Trump thinks the sentencing memo exonerates him.
Twitter seemed to agree:
The real news right now is not about Cohen’s sentence. It is about the conclusion by federal prosecutors that Donald J. Trump has committed a serious felony.
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) December 7, 2018 [2]
Prosecutors: the president personally ordered a subordinate to commit a felony.
Trump: https://t.co/FYk0BJo5Ax [3]— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) December 7, 2018 [4]
Uhhhh. I have bad news. https://t.co/0J6aX3iXJp [5]
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) December 7, 2018 [6]
The filings directly accuse Trump of directing and coordinating illegal payments to women.
This tweet might be Trump's most brazen attempt at gaslighting yet. https://t.co/893OgmLIF0 [7]
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 7, 2018 [8]
(It implicates the president in a federal felony, and implies financial fraud by his company.) https://t.co/H5ynMXlJ6E [9]
— Judah Maccabeets???? (@AdamSerwer) December 7, 2018 [10]
SDNY and Mueller prosecutors said in filings today that 1) Trump, unambiguously, directed and coordinated with Cohen to make illegal hush-money payments during the 2016 campaign and 2) that Cohen consulted Trump in Sept. 2015 about contacting the Russian government. https://t.co/lwbQcBzmq7 [11]
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) December 7, 2018 [12]
Dear @realDonaldTrump [13]: I think you might not know that the person prosecutors identify as Individual-1, who committed multiple felonies, is you.
You may want to read the court filings today. https://t.co/w7gn0kazzw [14]
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) December 7, 2018 [15]
Filing: – Trump and Cohen coordinated to silence affairs and influence election
– Cohen gave “useful information" on "discrete Russia-related matters" stemming from contact w/Trump Org
– He provided "relevant and useful" info about people connected to WHhttps://t.co/tOzXdd6ecT [16]— Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 7, 2018 [17]
You are Individual-1. https://t.co/zSoa2EOyeB [18]
— Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) December 7, 2018 [19]