Was it a pardon offer, or not?
Witness my shocked face when I tell you there is a difference of opinion between the Cohen and Trump camps on that answer.
After the FBI raided Michael Cohen's office in April 2018, Bob Costello, an attorney for Donald Trump, reached out via email to Cohen to reassure him everything was peachy keen as far as the White House was concerned.
Among the many effusive compliments and warm thoughts conveyed were assurances like, "You are loved" and "they are in our corner." But the sign-off? That's where the confusion comes in.
"Sleep well tonight, you have friends in high places."
Hmmmm. Cohen's camp claims to interpret that as the dangling of a pardon. As he stated in his testimony, Trump spoke in code. You'll never see the actual word "pardon" in the communications, for example, even if that is what he means. Trump's camp, however, insists this was simply exactly what it means - that Cohen can rest easy because his powerful friends still love him, and the relationship is still on good terms. Robert Costello called Cohen's claims "nonsense," and said he was trying to "smooth out" the relationship between Trump and Cohen, which Cohen was afraid was in danger because of the raid.
Yeah, Michael Cohen may be a sleaze, but I'm still gonna go with his impressions over the Trump camp's explanations. About pretty much anything.
