Trump denies asking former lawyer Michael Cohen to break the law

Donald Trump has denied directing his former lawyer Michael Cohen to break the law following Cohen’s sentencing for making hush-money payments to aid Trump’s election campaign.

Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison yesterday after pleading guilty to the violation of campaign law and lying to Congress about a proposed Trump Tower project in Russia.

In a series of tweets Trump distanced himself from Cohen’s actions and accused the lawyer of agreeing the charges in order to “embarrass the President”.

He said: “I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law.

“Cohen was guilty on many charges unrelated to me, but he plead to two campaign charges which were not criminal and of which he probably was not guilty even on a civil basis,” he said.

“Those charges were just agreed to by him in order to embarrass the president and get a much reduced prison sentence, which he did-including the fact that his family was temporarily let off the hook. As a lawyer, Michael has great liability to me.”