Leon Panetta: Cohen’s Plea Tells Us Trump Was Focused on Making Money Over Becoming POTUS
Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says Michael Cohen‘s plea deal shows that President Trump was more interested with making money in 2016 than in assuming the role of President of the United States.
Panetta appeared on CNN to give Brianna Keilar his reaction to Cohen’s admission that he lied to Congress about President Trump‘s “Moscow Project.” Since Trump defended himself earlier today by saying he was allowed to conduct his real estate business throughout his campaign, Panetta responded “we have always known there were ties” between Trump and Russia, now it’s a matter of following the money.
“The plea today by Cohen tells us that there is a financial connection here – that Donald Trump was operating as a New York developer, not really focusing on whether or not he would or would not be the president. He was focusing on making money, which is what New York developers do. And so he was trying to work that deal and obviously whether it panned out or not, we will find out that out in the course of the investigation.”
Keilar noted that Trump was a businessman much longer than he’s been a public servant, but she asked Panetta to elaborate on why Trump’s connection to Russia could entail a conflict of interest. Panetta explained that Trump’s first responsibility as president is to protect the country, so if Trump has financial ties with Russia and cannot deal with them objectively, that presents a considerable problem.
Watch above, via CNN.
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