Trump ‘Strongly Suggests’ Anyone Needing a Lawyer Pass on Cohen

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump broke his silence following his longtime lawyer and fixer’s plea deal -- which may criminally implicate him -- advising people in a curt tweet not to hire Michael Cohen without addressing the substance of Cohen’s plea.

"If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!" Trump said in a tweet Wednesday morning. Trump’s tweet came after Cohen’s lawyer Lanny Davis participated in morning television interviews in which he indicated Cohen would not seek a pardon from Trump and had more information to share with federal officials that may be damaging to the president.

The statement comes after Trump suffered through possibly the worst day of his presidency Tuesday.

Almost at the same time Cohen pleaded guilty to illegal campaign finance charges over hush money paid to a porn actress and a former Playboy model -- all but naming Trump as having ordered him to do it -- Paul Manafort was convicted on eight counts of tax and bank fraud charges, boosting Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

In a subsequent Twitter message, Trump lauded Manafort for mounting a vigorous legal defense and again accused Cohen of lying to get a reduced sentence.

"I feel very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family. ’Justice’ took a 12 year old tax case, among other things, applied tremendous pressure on him and, unlike Michael Cohen, he refused to ’break’ - make up stories in order to get a ’deal.’ Such respect for a brave man!" Trump said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Margaret Talev in Washington at mtalev@bloomberg.net;Terrence Dopp in Washington at tdopp@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Derek Wallbank at dwallbank@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman, Kathleen Hunter

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