Trump-Cohen crisis: President struggles to contain fallout as lawyer Lanny Davis says Cohen could talk to Mueller investigation

Donald Trump tells bizarre story about Chinese drivers following 'day of disaster'

Donald Trump has addressed the escalating crisis besetting his presidency surrounding revelations from his former lawyer and a run of legal troubles that could see him investigated as part of a criminal case.

Following his former personal attorney and 'fixer' Michael Cohen's guilty pleas to a string of crimes - one of which he said the then-Republican candidate directed him to commit - the president tweeted:"If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!"

The outburst follows a day of major legal troubles unprecedented since he entered the White House in 2017 — and there may be rocky waters ahead after a fresh subpoena for Mr Cohen on Wednesday indicated investigators may be circling in on the Trump Foundation as well. In addition, Mr Trump has seen numerous calls from Democrats saying that Mr Trump's recent Supreme Court nomination should be stalled in light of Mr Cohen's statements, and the lawyer for the former Trump fixer further ratcheted up the pressure, and said his client would not accept a pardon from the president to reduce his sentence.

"Michael Cohen knows information that would be of interest to the special counsel, in my opinion, regarding both knowledge about a conspiracy to corrupt American democracy by Russians, and the failure to report that information to the FBI," Mr Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, said on MSNBC. Mr Davis continued to say his client had set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for legal fees, and to help him "tell the truth about Donald Trump".

Within minutes of each other in separate courts on Tuesday, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort was found guilty on tax and bank fraud charges, while Mr Cohen pleaded guilty to a range of charges.

Mr Cohen also testified that Mr Trump directed him to commit a crime by arranging payments for Mr Trump ahead of the 2016 presidential election to silence two women who said they had affairs with the former reality TV show star.

Mr Trump did not address the public after the latest developments were announced, but opted to spend a rally in West Virginia avoiding discussion of either Mr Cohen or Mr Manafort, and instead addressing issues ranging from his mother's turkeys, exploding windmills and imaginary Chinese drivers.

During the White House press briefing on Wednesday, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders pushed back on talk that the events on Tuesday related to the president. She argued that Mr Manafort's charges had nothing to do with Mr Trump or his 2016 campaign, and said that it was "a ridiculous accusation" when asked if the president lied about having known about the payments made by Mr Cohen.

The president has previously denied having affairs with either of the women involved in the Cohen case. And he has strenuously objected to any suggestion that he is connected to any crimes revealed by the Mueller probe, which is looking into possible illegal collusion with the Russians.

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Key Points

• Responding to the events on Tuesday, Mr Trump tweeted to suggest that his former attorney Michael Cohen would be a bad choice for legal representation
• The White House has pushed back on the notion that Paul Manafort or Michael Cohen's crimes had anything to do with the president
• Mr Cohen was issued a subpoena on Wednesday, suggesting New York investigators may be circling in on its investigation into the Trump Foundation
• Politicians have called on Trump to answer for his role in 'criminal and corrupt' actions

[22 August 2018 13:45 · Andrew Griffin]

Donald Trump has tweeted:

"If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!" he wrote.

[22 August 2018 13:52 · Andrew Griffin]

Trump's attack on Cohen is in keeping with those of his aides, including Rudy Giuliani, who have spent much of their time in public disparaging the president's former attorney.

And the invective cuts both ways, with Cohen's own lawyer attacking the president on his behalf.

[22 August 2018 14:10 · Andrew Griffin]

Here's an analysis from The Independent's Tom Batchelor about just how bad this might be for the president. Spoiler: it might be very bad.

Analysts suggest that the developments could mean that Trump is now running a very real risk of being impeached.

Read more here.

[22 August 2018 14:10 · Andrew Griffin]

How did the US media report on the day of disaster yesterday? Vociferously, and with near universal criticism of Donald Trump.

Read more here.

[22 August 2018 14:29 · Andrew Griffin]

Donald Trump has posted yet another tweet about the ongoing situation:

"I feel very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family. “Justice” took a 12 year old tax case, among other things, applied tremendous pressure on him and, unlike Michael Cohen, he refused to “break” - make up stories in order to get a “deal.” Such respect for a brave man!"

As well as being a way to dig at Michael Cohen, Trump's continuing support for Manafort is noticeable. It might also be a clue: there have been repeated suggestions that the president may opt to pardon his ex-campaign manager.

He won't be pardoning Cohen, by the looks of things. And Cohen's lawyer says he doesn't want it anyway.

[22 August 2018 14:36 · Andrew Griffin]

And yet another post from the president:

"A large number of counts, ten, could not even be decided in the Paul Manafort case. Witch Hunt!"

It's a reference to the fact that the judge declared a mistrial on ten of the counts, after the jury could not come to a verdict.

But it is worth remembering that it did so happily on eight of the counts.

You can read our wrap-up of the Manafort verdict here.

[22 August 2018 14:42 · Andrew Griffin]

Yet another post from Trump:

"Michael Cohen plead guilty to two counts of campaign finance violations that are not a crime. President Obama had a big campaign finance violation and it was easily settled!"

The "not a crime" line is one that has already been used by Republican talking heads such as Sean Hannity. It's hard to understand what exactly it is supposed to be suggesting, since it is not possible to plead guilty to something that isn't a crime.

It's true that the Obama campaign did have its own problems with campaign finance violations. In 2013, the campaign was fined nearly $400,000.

[22 August 2018 14:56 · Andrew Griffin]

The tweets on Manafort and Cohen seem to have come to an end – and Trump has moved onto other issues, presumably hoping that the disastrous day of legal woes will be forgotten. He has just posted a message about the US's successful deportation of a Nazi.

"Thank you to Democrat Assemblyman Dov Hikind of New York for your very gracious remarks on @foxandfriends for our deporting a longtime resident Nazi back to Germany! Others worked on this for decades," he wrote.

You can read more about that story here.

[22 August 2018 15:04 · Andrew Griffin]

It's worth noting that Manafort's most stressful days in court might not yet be over. And neither could Trump's.

The former campaign manager, fresh from his eight guilty counts, will now be preparing for another case in DC that could expose far more about the campaign, Trump and potentially even Russia interference. You can read more from the Associated Press here.

[22 August 2018 15:21 · Andrew Griffin]

Bets on Trump being impeached have surged in the wake of the Cohen announcement, according to bookmakers. Betting markets now suggest that it is more likely than not that Trump will fail to make it through his first time unscathed – something echoed by political experts in this piece from Tom Batchelor.