Federal prosecutors said on Friday that President Trump directed illegal payments to ward off a potential sex scandal that threatened his chances of winning the White House in 2016, putting the weight of the Justice Department behind accusations previously made by his former lawyer.
The lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, had said that as the election neared, Trump directed payments to two women who claimed they had affairs with Trump. But in a new memo arguing for a prison term for Cohen, prosecutors in Manhattan said he “acted in coordination and at the direction of” an unnamed individual, clearly referring to Trump.
In another filing, prosecutors for the special counsel investigating Russia’s 2016 election interference said an unnamed Russian offered Cohen “government level” synergy between Russia and Trump’s campaign in November 2015. That was months earlier than other approaches detailed in indictments secured by prosecutors.
And in a separate case on Friday, the special counsel accused Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman, of lying about his contacts with an individual they accuse of ties to Russian intelligence, and about his interactions with Trump administration officials after he was indicted on criminal charges. Together, the filings laid bare the most direct evidence to date linking Trump to potentially criminal conduct, and added to an already substantial case that Russia was seeking to sway the 2016 election in his favor.
Trump sought on Friday to dismiss the news, claiming it “Totally clears the President. Thank you!”
The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was less unequivocal. “The government’s filings in Cohen’s case tell us nothing of value that wasn’t already known,” she said in a statement. “Cohen has repeatedly lied and as the prosecution has pointed out to the court, Cohen is no hero.”
She tried to distance Trump from the accusations against Manafort, who was convicted on financial fraud and conspiracy charges unrelated to his work for the Trump campaign. President Trump has repeatedly defended Manafort as a “brave man”.
