Who better than former Bill Clinton operative Lanny Davis to talk with former Bill Clinton operative George Stephanopoulos about Michael Cohen pleading guilty? Davis appeared on all three networks, Wednesday morning. No one mentioned Davis’s long history of Democratic activism. However, this connection was most egregious when Good Morning America’s Stephanopoulos interviewed him.
At no time did Stephanopoulos acknowledge the Clinton-era White House connection they shared. Instead, he simply introduced him as only “Michael Cohen’s attorney.”
Instead, Stephanopoulos wondered:
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You say Michael Cohen is liberated to tell the truth about President Trump. You just said he implicated President Trump in a federal can he implicate the President in other crimes?”
...
STEPHANOPOULOS: So to be clear, if Michael Cohen committed a federal crime at the direction of President Trump, does that mean President Trump committed a federal crime?
NBC’s Today and CBS This Morning also failed to note Davis’s long history as a Democratic operative. They simply identified him as “Michael Cohen’s attorney.” CBS co-host Norah O'Donnell pressed Davis on evidence:
I think you can understand it's a pretty explosive allegation to say that the President directed him to do that. That's why I'm asking about evidence, because the next question then becomes do you believe the president is a co-conspirator and that he could be indicted?
A transcript of the GMA segment is below. Click "expand" to read more.
Good Morning America
8/22/18
7:04:43 7:09:13
4 minutes and 30 secondsGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Let’s take that question now to Michael Cohen's attorney Lanny Davis. Lanny, thank you for joining us this morning.
LANNY DAVIS: Thank you for having me.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Is Michael Cohen prepared to tell everything he knows about President Trump to Special Counsel Robert Mueller and other prosecutors?
DAVIS: Yes, 100 percent. That's the decision he made and that led to what happened yesterday and that's why his feelings right now are a mixture of the pain he went through for his family but relief and liberation that he can now speak completely the truth without the shadow of the potential prosecution hanging over him.
STEPHANOPOULOS: In court yesterday he implicated President Trump in a federal crime. As you know, President Trump's defenders are already attacking Mr. Cohen's credibility. Does he have evidence to support those claims?
DAVIS: Let me make 100 percent clear the evidence was provided definitively by Donald Trump's lawyers. They wrote the special counsel and said Donald Trump directed Michael Cohen to make these illegal payments. It's not a dispute. It's not about credibility. It's his lawyers in a letter used the word directed. Rudy Giuliani said don't believe what Trump said on Air Force One it's not a crime to lie to the American people. And he said, Donald Trump reimbursed Michael Cohen.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So to be clear, if Michael Cohen committed a federal crime at the direction of President Trump, does that mean President Trump committed a federal crime?
DAVIS: President Trump committed a criminal act that corrupt the our democracy. That's what the campaign finance laws are about. The same way that the Russians complicity with Wikileaks and evidence that members of the campaign at least facilitated that conspiracy.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You say Michael Cohen is liberated to tell the truth about President Trump. You just said he implicated President Trump in a federal can he implicate the President in other crimes?
DAVIS: I don't know yet. I know that he needs help from the American people who have a vested interest in avoiding a president who commits crimes and denies Russian interference.
STEPHANOPOULOS: What information does he have about the president? Does he have information about possible collusion with the Russians in the campaign that would be of interest to Special Counsel Robert Mueller?
DAVIS: I have got to be careful as to what Michael Cohen shared with me as an attorney. I'm not allowed to do that. I can tell you that it’s my observation that what he knows that he witnessed will be of interest to the Special Counsel. That's my opinion. We'll see.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Other investigative bodies including the New York attorney general?
DAVIS: He will tell the truth to everybody who asks him about Mr. Trump. When he retained me we had long conversations about exactly the issue, “Will you tell the truth about Donald Trump after all the years that you were loyal to him and worked for him?” His answer was, “I want to hit the reset button.” He needs help for himself and his family. And the MichaelCohen TruthFund.com go to site is for Americans who want to help Michael Cohen tell the truth.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You said he wants to hit the reset button. Rudy Giuliani said that his past actions show a pattern of lies and dishonesty. We heard similar words from the prosecutor yesterday. I think the question for a lot of Americans will be, Michael Cohen lied before. Why should we believe him now?
DAVIS: I understand that the man who says truth isn't truth, Rudy Giuliani, has a strange definition of what truth is. But we're not debating anything today. Michael Cohen was directed according to Donald Trump's lawyers to do a criminal act. So whatever you attack on Michael Cohen's credibility, you can't attack Donald Trump’s lawyers for using the words directed Michael Cohen to do that criminal act.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Final question, would Michael Cohen accept a presidential pardon? Does he want one?
DAVIS: He will not and does not want anything from Donald Trump. After working for him all of those years, he came to the recognition that Donald Trump is a president unsuitable to have that office and the powers of that office which he has abused and which Donald Trump will continue to abuse perhaps using the pardon power and Michael Cohen wants no part of that abuse.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Lanny Davis, thanks for your time this morning.
