Trump commented on the case of Michael Cohen, stating that he never directed him to violate the law and pointed out that it was Cohen's own liability as a lawyer to know when he violates it.
I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law. It is called “advice of counsel,” and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. That is why they get paid. Despite that many campaign finance lawyers have strongly……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018
He also noted that Cohen's charges were mostly unrelated to his presidential campaign and that those which were related were not criminal ones.
….stated that I did nothing wrong with respect to campaign finance laws, if they even apply, because this was not campaign finance. Cohen was guilty on many charges unrelated to me, but he plead to two campaign charges which were not criminal and of which he probably was not…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018
The president also that his former lawyer had pleaded guilty to crimes he probably never committed. Trump alleged that Cohen had done so in order to reduce his sentence, protect his family from investigation, and to "embarrass" him.
….guilty even on a civil basis. Those charges were just agreed to by him in order to embarrass the president and get a much reduced prison sentence, which he did-including the fact that his family was temporarily let off the hook. As a lawyer, Michael has great liability to me!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018
READ MORE: US Court Sentences ex-Trump Lawyer Cohen to 36 Month in Prison — Reports
President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, was sentenced to three years in prison on 12 December after pleading guilty to a campaign finance charge in August and to making false statements to Congress about Trump Tower talks with Russia. He also confessed to tax fraud and other accusations, stating that he would cooperate with investigators.
On Making Mexico Pay for Border Wall
US President Donald Trump has reaffirmed his promise to make Mexico pay for the border wall, stating that it has been doing so since the signing of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). According to the president, the benefits for the US from the USMC agreement are so great that they cover the costs of the construction.
I often stated, “One way or the other, Mexico is going to pay for the Wall.” This has never changed. Our new deal with Mexico (and Canada), the USMCA, is so much better than the old, very costly & anti-USA NAFTA deal, that just by the money we save, MEXICO IS PAYING FOR THE WALL!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018
Mexican President Lopez Obrador said that he didn't discuss the issue of the US border wall during his last phone call with Trump on 12 December. He added that the call was actually "respectful" and "friendly".
This was just the most recent message from Trump in a series of tweets devoted to the construction of the wall on the Mexico border. Yesterday, the US president scolded Democrats in the Senate for their reluctance to allocate funding for the construction of the wall, noting that during the presidency of Barack Obama, the Democrats allegedly "gave" Iran $150 billion, hinting at the alleged amount of assets that were unfrozen as a result of the Iran nuclear deal in 2015.
Trump is currently embroiled in a standoff with Democrats in the Senate over a new budget bill that is intended to allocate $5 billion for the construction of the border wall with Mexico. Although the Republicans have a majority in the Senate (51 seats) until the end of the year, Trump still needs 60 votes to approve funding for the wall and thus needs votes from Democrats.
Trump earlier attempted to threaten Democrats by promising to initiate a partial government shutdown if funding isn't secured by December 21, but the Democrats passed a two-week stopgap spending bill in order to avert such a scenario.
