WASHINGTON | President Donald Trump gave praise to a key witness in the Russia investigation Monday for having the “guts” not to testify against him, and chided his former lawyer — who cut a deal with prosecutors — saying he should head straight to prison.
In a pair of politically charged tweets, Trump made clear that he watching those who turn on him in the special counsel’s probe closely.
The tweets pile on to mounting questions about whether Trump is taking steps to improperly influence witnesses in an probe that has enraged him and shadowed his administration. Some legal experts, though, say they may not amount to witness tampering if Trump didn’t directly tell others what to say or not say.
Trump already has received fire from critics who fear he may use his executive power to protect himself as well as friends and supporters. Last week, Trump told the New York Post that a pardon for his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was still being considered.
Prosecutors say Manafort blew up his plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller by repeatedly lying to them, although Manafort denies that he lied.
In one of Monday’s tweets, Trump fired shots at Michael Cohen, his former personal attorney who once grandly declared he would “take a bullet” for the president but ultimately took a plea deal.
Cohen pleaded guilty last week to lying to Congress about details he had on Trump’s behalf for a real estate deal in Moscow.
Though he told lawmakers the discussions were completed by January 2016, he admitted they actually lasted as late as June — after Trump had sealed the Republican nomination and after Russians had penetrated Democratic email accounts for communications later released through WikiLeaks.
Cohen claimed that he lied out of fierce loyalty to Trump, who insisted throughout the campaign that he had no business dealings in Russia, and to be consistent with his political messaging.
On Monday, Trump ripped into Cohen on Twitter.
“You mean he can do all of the TERRIBLE, unrelated to Trump, things having to do with fraud, big loans, Taxis, etc., and not serve a long prison term?” Trump added that Cohen “makes up stories to get a GREAT & ALREADY reduced deal for himself.”
Trump added: “He lied for this outcome and should, in my opinion, serve a full and complete sentence.”
Minutes later, Trump lavished praise on his former campaign adviser Roger Stone. Mueller’s prosecutors are investigating Stone to learn whether he had advance knowledge of WikiLeaks’ plans to release hacked material damaging to Hillary Clinton’s presidential effort.
Trump lauded Stone for saying he’d never testify against the president.
“This statement was recently made by Roger Stone, essentially stating that he will not be forced by a rogue and out of control prosecutor to make up lies and stories about ‘President Trump,’” he tweeted. “Nice to know that some people still have ‘guts!’”
Stone then posted a screenshot of Trump’s tweet with a caption that said he was proud of their 40-year relationship and “prouder still of the amazing job he is doing making America Great Again!”
Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, said Trump’s tweet was inappropriate.
“The President of the United States should not be using his platform to influence potential witnesses in a federal investigation involving his campaign,” Warner said in a tweet.
Stone said the idea that Trump’s tweet amount to witness tampering is “hysterical.”
“I’m not a witness to any proceeding,” he said.
