Trump Responds To Bombshell BuzzFeed Report On Cohen With Witness Intimidation

With Washington abuzz over a blockbuster BuzzFeed report that claims President Donald Trump directed his former lawyer to lie to Congress about the length of his personal involvement in the Moscow Trump Tower project, something that would be impeachable if true, all eyes were turned to the White House to see how the president would respond.

And in typical fashion, the first statement from POTUS on the story came via a tweet quoting Fox News. And it also contained a message to Michael Cohen that was hard to miss.

Kevin Corke, @FoxNews “Don’t forget, Michael Cohen has already been convicted of perjury and fraud, and as recently as this week, the Wall Street Journal has suggested that he may have stolen tens of thousands of dollars….” Lying to reduce his jail time! Watch father-in-law!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2019

Quoting Fox News correspondent Kevin Corke, who had appeared on air just minutes earlier, Trump wrote that “Michael Cohen has already been convicted of perjury and fraud, and as recently as this week, the Wall Street Journal has suggested that he may have stolen tens of thousands of dollars.” He then added his own commentary: “Lying to reduce his jail time! Watch father-in-law!”

The implied threat here — that the president wants his Department of Justice to look into the family of a witness who is about to testify before Congress and is cooperating with federal prosecutors — is one that the president has made before. During an interview with Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro earlier this month, Trump said Cohen should give up information on his father-in-law because “that’s the money in the family” and “that’s the one people want to look at.”

Cohen’s legal advisor Lanny Davis said on Thursday that the fear of Trump’s retaliation against his family may cause Cohen to back out of his House testimony scheduled next month.