Trump’s actions, like any private businessman’s, were legal.
"On his way to catch Air Force One on Thursday, President Donald Trump shared his thoughts about Michael Cohen, his one-time personal lawyer who pleaded guilty that morning to lying to Congress about negotiations for a possible Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign.
"Trump said: (1) it was no secret he was interested in putting a Trump Tower in Moscow; (2) as a private citizen, he had every right to build in Russia; so (3) there was no reason for Cohen to lie to Congress, and if he did lie, it had nothing to do with the president.
"Trump has a point. As Brad Blakeman, a lawyer in President George W. Bush’ administration, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Trump’s actions were legal. Trump wasn’t president in 2016, and he didn’t know that he would win. He had every right to push to keep his business going.
“ 'He was hedging his bets,” Blakeman said. “I don’t know why Cohen had to lie about it.”
"The other big point: Special Counsel Robert Mueller has a penchant for winning guilty pleas from Trump associates who have lied to authorities, but from what America has seen, he has not made the case that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election.
"Cohen’s guilty plea for lying about Trump’s flirtation with building in Moscow at least has a Russian angle. That’s much closer than the conviction of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was found guilty on charges of tax evasion and bank fraud as far back as 2010, long before he worked for Trump. Ditto co-defendant Rick Gates, who cut a plea deal to reduce his sentence in exchange for testimony against Manafort.
"There often has been a political tinge to Mueller’s actions. In August, Cohen pleaded guilty to tax evasion and bank fraud — charges that had nothing to do with Trump. But he also pleaded guilty to a campaign finance violation related to a payment to a porn actress that was supposed to buy her silence on her involvement with Trump in 2006, as well as an improper payment to a former "Playboy playmate." . . .
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