President Donald Trump's longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen is making up stories to get leniency from federal prosecutors in his criminal case, former Trump campaign adviser Michael Caputo told Fox News’ "America's Newsroom" on Wednesday.
Cohen on Tuesday agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors, admitting to violating federal campaign finance laws by arranging hush money payments to two women “at the direction” of then-candidate Trump during the 2016 race.
Cohen pleaded guilty to five counts of tax evasion, one count of making false statements to a financial institution, another of willfully causing an unlawful corporate contribution and one count of making an excessive campaign contribution.
Caputo said it is very suspicious that Cohen had insisted that the payments were completely legitimate and only changed his story when he was faced with federal charges.
"I think it's entirely possible that Michael Cohen would make up a story to try to get some leniency for crimes that he's committed that didn't involve Donald Trump at all," Caputo said. "I believe that's what's happened here."
Although Caputo noted that Cohen's plea deal reportedly does not involve a cooperation agreement with federal prosecutors, "if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. This is cooperation in its finest form."
There is no doubt that Cohen was forced to admit to campaign finance violations and implicate Trump in order to receive a reduced sentence, Caputo said, adding that prosecutors made it non-negotiable, and "I'm sure he'll get more leniency in the future if he tells more lies."
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