US President Donald Trump is screaming "witch hunt" in all caps. With both Paul Manafort, his former campaign manager, and Michael Cohen, former lawyer, being found guilty of financial fraud, things look bad for Trump and his latest tweet seems to reflect his panic.
"NO COLLUSION - RIGGED WITCH HUNT!" tweeted @realdonaldtrump. And, in a reply tweet added, "END THE RIGGED WITCH HUNT!"
NO COLLUSION - RIGGED WITCH HUNT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2018
Trump suffered setbacks when Cohen pleaded guilty in a court in New York, just minutes before Trump’s former campaign chief, Paul Manafort, was convicted of financial crimes in Alexandria, Virginia, that could see him jailed for the rest of his life.
The outcome of the cases has rekindled hopes of impeachment among Trump's opposition. If Democrats win a majority in the House of Representatives in November's midterm elections, Trump could be in trouble.
Donald Trump has angrily protested his innocence and hit back at Cohen. Cohen's confession directly implicates Trump in paying "hush money" to prevent two women from speaking out about alleged extramarital affairs.
Trump has accused Cohen of making up "stories in order to get a 'deal' from federal prosecutors" and tweeted what seemed like a very bitter message, "If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!”
In an interview with the Fox News, Trump has claimed that the payoffs "are not a crime". He said, "They didn’t come out of the campaign, they came from me. And I tweeted about it. You know, I put – I don’t know if you know but I tweeted about the payments. But they didn’t come out of the campaign.
“But they weren’t – that’s not a – it’s not even a campaign violation. If you look at President Obama, he had a massive campaign violation but he had a different attorney general and they viewed it a lot differently.”
While Trump is trying everything in his power to discredit his ex-lawyer, he has heaped praises on his ex-campaign manager. "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!" Trump tweeted.
Meanwhile, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House Press Secretary, reiterated that the US President "did nothing wrong".
"As the President has said and we've stated many times, he did nothing wrong. There are no charges against him and we've commented on it extensively. Just because Michael Cohen made a plea deal, doesn't implicate the President on anything," CNN quoted Sanders, as saying.
Sanders further rubbished allegations of Trump lying to the American people.
"I think that's a ridiculous accusation. The President, in this matter, has done nothing wrong and there have been no charges filed against him," she said.
Sanders also clarified that no talks had taken place in the White House on pardoning Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who was found guilty on eight charges, including tax fraud.
"The Manafort case doesn't have anything to do with the President, it doesn't have anything to do with his campaign, doesn't have anything to do with the White House," Sanders said in the press briefing.