Washington: A day after United States President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty before a court in relation to payments made to two women, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders reiterated that the US President “did nothing wrong.”
“As the President has said and we’ve stated many times, he did nothing wrong. There are no charges against him and we’ve commented on it extensively. Just because Michael Cohen made a plea deal, doesn’t implicate the President on anything,” CNN quoted Sanders, as saying.
Sanders further rubbished allegations of Trump lying to the American people.
“I think that’s a ridiculous accusation. The President, in this matter, has done nothing wrong and there have been no charges filed against him,” she said.
Sanders also clarified that no talks had taken place in the White House on pardoning Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who was found guilty on eight charges, including tax fraud.
“The Manafort case doesn’t have anything to do with the President, it doesn’t have anything to do with his campaign, doesn’t have anything to do with the White House,” Sanders said in the press briefing.
Cohen pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday in connection with eight criminal charges, including paying adult-film star Stormy Daniels as part of a non-disclosure agreement over her affair with the US President in 2006.
Meanwhile, a Virginia court found Manafort guilty on eight charges, including tax fraud.
On May 3 this year, Trump had defended the hush money paid to Daniels saying that he paid a monthly retainer to his former lawyer, which is “not from the campaign” and had nothing to do with the same.
Daniels publicly claimed to have had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. However, the US President has repeatedly denied any relations with the adult star, who also claimed that Cohen orchestrated a payment to keep her quiet during the presidential elections.
ANI