Michael Cohen Reportedly Believed Trump Would Offer Him a Pardon If He Stayed ‘On Message’

According to a CNN report on Friday night, one-time Trump fixer Michael Cohen once thought that President Donald Trump would pardon him.

Then, things went awry.

CNN reports:

After a March 2018 visit to Mar-a-Lago, the President’s private club in Florida, Cohen returned to New York believing that his former boss would protect him if he faced any charges for sticking to his story about the 2016 payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, according to one source with knowledge. Trump was also at Mar-a-Lago at the time of Cohen’s visit.

Another source said that after the April 2018 FBI raid on Cohen’s office and home, people close to the President assured Cohen that Trump would take care of him. And Cohen believed that meant that the President would offer him a pardon if he stayed on message. It is unclear who specifically reached out to Cohen.

However, Trump’s current lawyer, Rudy Giuliani says there was never a promise of a pardon.

“The President of the United States never indicated anything to Michael, or anyone else, about getting a pardon,” Giuliani said. “Pardons are off the table, but it’s not a limitation on his power in the future to pardon in any case.”

Since the March 2018 visit to Mar-a-Lago, Trump has taken great pains to distance himself from Cohen, even claiming he hired him as a “favor” and calling him “very weak.”

On Thursday, Cohen entered into a plea deal for making false statements to Congress regarding the Russia investigation.

Trump, who recently indicated he has not ruled out pardoning Paul Manafort .

Watch more above, via CNN.

[featured photo via Spencer Platt / Getty Images]

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