Yesterday it was announced that President Donald Trump’s former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen has hired Lanny Davis, a friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton, to help deal with the federal investigation into Cohen’s businesses and finances.
“Like most of America, I have been following the matter regarding Michael Cohen with great interest,” Davis said in a statement Thursday, confirming that Cohen had hired him. “As an attorney, I have talked to Michael many times in the last two weeks. Then I read his words published on July 2, and I recognized his sincerity. Michael Cohen deserves to tell his side of the story — subject, of course, to the advice of counsel.”
Davis joins Guy Petrillo, a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, as a lawyer representing Cohen.
When Cohen went public this week in an interview with ABC News, claiming that his “top priority” is to protect his family and his country, most people interpreted this move as a sign that he had decided he was ready to “flip” on the president and cooperate with Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York.
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Still, due to Cohen’s longstanding relationship with the president, many people remained skeptical and said that Cohen could be making a public plea for a pardon from the president instead of indicating a readiness to turn state’s witness.
By hiring a lawyer and close friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton, however, it has now become very clear that Cohen no longer sees himself as part of Trump’s team, confirming his interview comments that he has no more loyalty to the president.
On MSNBC, Mother Jones writer David Corn suggested that Davis has a hidden agenda.
“Michael Cohen’s new lawyer Lanny Davis “has an agenda here, which is to avenge Hillary Clinton” so “if you care about Donald Trump, you ought to be really worried” – @DavidCornDC”
Michael Cohen's new lawyer Lanny Davis "has an agenda here, which is to avenge Hillary Clinton" so "if you care about Donald Trump, you ought to be really worried" – @DavidCornDC pic.twitter.com/z54qGqONFq
— The Beat with Ari Melber 📺 (@TheBeatWithAri) July 5, 2018
During his appearance on The Beat with Ari Melber Corn said:
“If you care about Donald Trump, you ought to be worried. Lanny Davis is a political player, a spinmeister who’s written books on how to spin, who has an agenda here which is to avenge Hillary Clinton. So if it ever comes to his advice to Cohen on what to do, you can’t separate his loyalty, his fierce loyalty to the Clintons and wanting to set things straight after the 2016 election with what he’s going to be doing with Michael Cohen.”
Cohen certainly knew that when he hired Lanny Davis, one of Bill and Hillary’s closest friends and advisers, he would be sending a strong message to Donald Trump. And in hiring Davis he has made even more clear that he plans to turn against the president and provide all the evidence that Bob Mueller and federal prosecutors need to bring down the Trump presidency.
I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.
