On Cohen plea, Sarah Sanders says Trump did 'nothing wrong'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The White House on Wednesday said that President Trump had done "nothing wrong" after former attorney Michael Cohen admitted to violating federal campaign finance laws by arranging hush money payments to two women during the 2016 campaign.
“As the president said, we've stated many times, he did nothing wrong, there are no charges against him and we’ve commented on this extensively,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said at the daily briefing.
Cohen on Tuesday admitting to arranging payments to two women, believed to be adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, and said they were done "at the direction" of Trump.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In total, Cohen pleaded guilty to five counts of tax evasion, one count of making false statements to a financial institution, one count of willfully causing an unlawful corporate contribution, and one count of making an excessive campaign contribution.
That plea came on the same day as former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted on eight counts of bank and tax fraud.
But Sanders brushed off both the Cohen plea and the Manafort conviction.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Just because Michael Cohen made a plea deal doesn’t mean that implicates the president on anything,” she said of Cohen.
“The Manafort case has nothing to do with [Trump], the campaign or the White House,” she said about Manafort, also adding that she was not aware of any conversations regarding a potential pardon of Manafort.
When asked if Trump was lying when he told reporters on Air Force One in April that he didn’t know anything about the payments to the women, Sanders said that was a “ridiculous accusation.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Democrats have ramped up pressure on Trump in the wake of the two developments, and on Wednesday multiple Senate Democrats called for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing to be delayed.
“This is a desperate and pathetic attempt by Democrats to obstruct a very highly qualified nominee. The hearing date has been set for September 4 and Judge Kavanaugh will be there,” she said.
LEGAL EXPERTS CLASH ON WHETHER COHEN PLEA THREATENS TRUMP
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The briefing marks the latest pushback from the White House amid the developments. Trump said in an interview with “Fox & Friends,” to be aired Thursday that the payments were not a campaign violation and the money wasn’t taken out of campaign finances.
“They didn’t come out of the campaign, they came from me,” he said, adding that if the money had come from the campaign, then “that could be a little dicey.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.