President Donald Trump—who, as we all know, only hires "the best people"—offered a bit of deliciously ironic advice on Wednesday to anyone looking to, say, successfully cover up serious campaign finance crimes: Don't hire Michael Cohen, whose services Trump happily retained for over a decade.
"If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don't retain the services of Michael Cohen!" Trump counseled in a tweet, his first public mention of Cohen since the attorney pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts.
If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2018
Yeah, who would be such a moron as to hire him???? https://t.co/QJufLEXTKf
— Thomas E. Ricks (@tomricks1) August 22, 2018
Cohen—who Trump called a "fine" and "respected" person as recently as April—is probably not in a position to accept new clients at the moment, given that he just pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts and admitted that he violated campaign finance laws at Trump's direction.
Demonstrating that his judgement of lawyerly skill is impeccable, Trump has since hired Rudy Giuliani—who is better than Cohen "only insofar as he hasn't implicated [Trump] in a felony yet"—to lead his legal team.
Twitter users quickly had a field day with Trump's advice:
Trump only hires the best people: Michael Cohen: GUILTY. Michael Flynn: GUILTY. Deputy campaign manger Rick Gates: GULTY. Foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos: GUILTY. AND Campaign Manager PAUL MANAFORT: GUILTY https://t.co/PdKjh5s5zx
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) August 22, 2018
In fairness to Trump, entering a criminal conspiracy with your client and then offering him up on a plea deal is something which would probably get you a fairly low mark on the Bar exam. https://t.co/HxmJxr0RrJ
— The Secret Barrister (@BarristerSecret) August 22, 2018
i'm not 100% sure if Michael Cohen's legal services are available at the moment https://t.co/SrvyoXiqwO
— Colin Campbell (@colincampbell) August 22, 2018
someone post this on Cohen's Yelp https://t.co/qTsw7Q6U64
— Shoshana Weissmann, Sloth Committee Chair (@senatorshoshana) August 22, 2018
In a subsequent tweet on Wednesday morning, Trump claimed that the campaign violation to which Cohen pleaded guilty—and to which the president himself was implicated—was "not a crime."
