It is no longer speculation that Donald Trump is panicking about Friday’s news that Michael Cohen secretly recorded at least one campaign-season conversation they had about a payment to a Playboy model.
In a Saturday morning meltdown, Trump freaked out about the development, calling it “inconceivable” that the government would raid his lawyer’s office and “perhaps illegal” that Cohen even recorded their conversations in the first place.
Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning) – almost unheard of. Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client – totally unheard of & perhaps illegal. The good news is that your favorite President did nothing wrong!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 21, 2018
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Trump is panicking because he knows he’s guilty
Innocent people don’t freak out on Twitter about tapes seized by federal investigators – especially if there is nothing criminal on them. This should be particularly true of a President of the United States.
Trump’s three-pronged meltdown on Saturday morning – trashing the government, accusing Cohen of a crime and insisting that “your favorite President did nothing wrong!” – shows that he knows the tapes are a legal nightmare for him.
And Trump has good reason to freak out about all of this. As Jason Easley pointed out on Friday, “Trump and Cohen engaged in criminal activity to bury a story that would hurt Trump’s campaign.”
If Trump was discussing payments to women during the campaign in order to influence the election, that would likely constitute campaign finance violations, among other crimes.
The best strategy for anybody to assert their innocence isn’t to throw tantrums on social media. It’s to remain silent and go about their own business.
But the guilty President of the United States can’t help but lash out on Twitter because he knows the other shoe will soon hit the floor.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
