Top Trump advisor Michael Cohen looks like a fool trying to convince CNN that "it didn't count" when Trump defended Bill Clinton in the 90's -- from the same allegations Trump's using now in his own campaign.
May 24, 2016

Trump's Special Council, Michael Cohen, can't defend his boss' hypocrisy over Bill Clinton. Donald defended Bill Clinton consistently in the 1990's from the various attacks the right wing threw at him, including the impeachment. Now, all those discredited right wing attacks on Clinton are fair game, because Donald is running for President?

Cohen says it doesn't count now because Trump was trying to be a good friend, is all.

See, so simple.

Cohen spoke to Chris Cuomo on CNN's News Day earlier this morning and twisted into a pretzel to make Trump look like something OTHER than a total hypocrite:

"He was a private citizen who was friendly with the Clintons, and he was trying to protect a friend, all right? Now, it's a different game. It's 2016. He's the presidential..."

Cuomo wasn't buying. "So he was lying, then?"

"He was not lying. He was protecting a friend. There's a difference."

This is freaking incoherent. Trump lied to protect a friend in the 90's, but that doesn't go to Trump's overall character, because now he's running for the presidency and he's speaking the truth?

Cuomo didn't back down.

CUOMO: What is the difference?

COHEN: He was being a true friend. It didn't matter to him.

CUOMO: So he would be friends with a guy that he thought was a piece of crap basically?

Cuomo continued pummeling Cohen over Trump's past statements that defended Bill Clinton: "He called Paula Jones a loser. He said Linda Tripp was a lying loser."

But to Cohen, that doesn't matter because it was in the 90's. "Let's talk about 2016, Chris. We're not going to talk about 1990 when he was defending Bill Clinton because it didn't matter."

But all of Trump's attacks against Bill Clinton, who is not running for the presidency, happened in the 90's.

Cenk Uygur has asked the same question:

Here's the rest of the transcript with Cuomo. It doesn't get any better for Cohen (or Trump) as the interview continued.

COHEN: What his relationship with his wife is between the two of them. Now it's different. They're attacking Mr. Trump on a daily basis. Hundreds of millions of dollars spent in attack ads, right, where it's funny because I keep seeing CNN and others talking about the two ads that are going against one another. Mr. Trump spent probably $250 on his ad and no expense in terms of getting it out, and she has probably spent several millions of dollars.

CUOMO: Why is he going after stuff that -- he called Paula Jones a loser.

COHEN: Do you know what the difference is? The ad that he put out against the Clintons is legitimate. The one she put out against him is inaccurate.

CUOMO: He says it's illegitimate. He said Linda Tripp was a lying loser.

COHEN: Let's talk about 2016, Chris. We're not going to talk about 1990 when he was defending Bill Clinton because it didn't matter.

CUOMO: Why would I trust you if you say all the things you said then were false?

COHEN: He was a private individual --

CUOMO: So you tell the truth when you're politician but you lie when you're private individual?

COHEN: He had no obligation to say anything to anybody.

CUOMO: He said plenty.

COHEN: So what? He is Donald Trump.

CUOMO: That's the record of what you believe.

COHEN: No, no, no. It was -- he was standing up for a man who he considered to be a friend at the time.

CUOMO: So he was saying things that he knew was untrue at the time?

COHEN: No.

CUOMO: Did he believe them to be true at the time?

COHEN: I don't think he knew the answer. He was standing up for a friend.

CUOMO: He called Paula Jones, called Linda Tripp the personification of evil.

COHEN: The person who called all of them the worst was Hillary Clinton, the great enabler.

CUOMO: This is about your guy, what he said, Paula Jones is a loser and she may be responsible for bringing down the president indirectly. Did he know it or did not know it?

COHEN: You'll have to ask him that question.

CUOMO: Mike -- Michael, that's a nice dodge, my friend, very well done on that. What I'm saying is that is the hypocrisy part. You defended the guy more than anybody else basically who didn't have go, and now you're bringing all the same attacks and saying it's different now, I'm running for office. I think that sounds like a...

COHEN: Like I said to you the very first time I came on this show, Donald Trump is a counterpuncher. Had she not turned around and brought out the issue where she is referring to him as a sexist and misogynist, this ad would have never come out. What is going to be even worse, here is a little hint for them. Donald Trump is this uber billionaire real estate developer, possibly the greatest negotiator in the history of this planet.

[08:15:02] He'll never come out with his first offer, right, in real estate right off the bat. Meaning she thinks this is bad, right, this is nothing. He's not coming out with his strong, right, from day number one.

CUOMO: How far can he go?

(CROSSTALK) COHEN: How far? You're going back to 1970s, 1980s, 1990s you guys feel it is okay to go back as far as you want in order to take a snippet, right, whereas --

CUOMO: Twenty-five years ago, when he first --

COHEN: You're going back 30 years.

CUOMO: -- when he pretended to be a pr guy on tape.

COHEN: Well, that's your opinion.

CUOMO: So, you're saying it wasn't him on the tape still?

COHEN: I'm not --

CUOMO: He admitted it in the past.

COHEN: I'm not so sure he admitted anything.

Can you help us out?

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