'Nothing to do with me': Trump rages at Michael Cohen in courthouse despite gag order
Following opening statements in his hush-money trial Monday, former President Donald Trump emerged from the courtroom enraged, insisting the case had "nothing to do" with him.
He began by saying that payments to former attorney Michael Cohen couldn't have been illegal because he did not try to deduct them from his taxes. Cohen has said that he paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels to cover up a sexual affair with Trump — and the former president knew about it.
"If a lawyer puts in a bill or an invoice and you pay the bill and in the book, it's a little line," he said of the business records he was accused of falsifying. "That's a very small little line. I don't know if you can even write more than two words. It's not like you can tell a life story. They marked it down to a legal expense. This is what I got indicted over."
ALSO READ: A criminologist explains why keeping Trump from the White House is all that matters
"And this is what they try and take me off the trail for, that checks being paid to a lawyer," Trump remarked about Cohen. "He is a lawyer or was a lawyer. And also, the things he got in trouble for were things that had nothing to do with me."
"He got in trouble. He went to jail. This had nothing to do with me."
Trump complained that he "should be in Florida now."
"It's very unfair," he griped.
New York Justice Juan Merchan recently put a gag order in place to prevent Trump from talking about potential witnesses, including Cohen and Daniels. A meeting is scheduled for Tuesday to discuss several violations Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg claims Trump has already made.