Trump: It should be 'almost' illegal to flip on criminals like him

Trump is once again expressing his utter disdain for the American justice system — especially when it means he can be implicated in a crime.

During his extensive softball interview on “Fox & Friends” Thursday, he complained for several minutes that it “unfair” that his former longtime attorney Michael Cohen implicated him in the crimes to which Cohen pleaded guilty earlier this week.

Cohen admitted to making hush money payments to women with whom Trump had extramarital affairs, for the purpose of keeping them silent right before the 2016 election. And he did so at Trump’s direction.

Those payments were a campaign finance violation, and Trump is now an unindicted co-conspirator in those crimes to which Cohen has pleaded guilty.

To Trump, though, the crimes Cohen committed are “tiny” crimes that are “not a big deal.” The real crime, he said, is that Cohen pointed the finger at him.

“It almost ought to be outlawed,” Trump told Fox host Ainsley Earhardt. “It’s not fair. Because if somebody’s going to spend five years, like Michael Cohen, or 10 years, or 15 years in jail because of a taxi cab industry, because he defrauded some bank — the last two were the tiny ones. You know, campaign violations are considered not a big deal, frankly.”

He then suggested Cohen made a deal to have his prison sentence reduced to two years, even though Cohen’s sentencing hearing isn’t until Dec. 12, by saying bad things about him.

“If somebody defrauded a bank, and he’s going to get 10 years in jail or 20 years in jail, but if you can say something bad about Donald Trump, you’ll go down to two years or three years, which is the deal he made.”

Trump went on — and on and on — about people who “flip” on their accomplices when they’re caught breaking the law.

“I’ve seen it many times,” he said. “I’ve had many friends involved in this stuff. It’s called flipping, and it almost ought to be illegal.”

He didn’t elaborate on which of his friends have been charged or implicated in federal crimes and then flipped or were flipped on. But he did say that those who cooperate with prosecutors in criminal investigations are lying anyway.

“They make up lies — I’ve seen it many times — they make up things, and now they go from 10 years to they’re a national hero. They have a statue erected in their honor.”

Trump did not name any examples of nationally celebrated flippers who have statues dedicated to their cooperation with federal authorities.

“It’s not a fair thing,” he said again. “But that’s why he did it.”

President @realDonaldTrump on former associates “flipping” on him to make deals pic.twitter.com/gdIEF8kLuk

— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) August 23, 2018

Trump has waged an ugly and vicious war against the American justice system since before he even took office. During his 2016 campaign, he routinely suggested he would abuse his power to have his political opponents investigated and imprisoned.

He has repeatedly complained about due process and the mere involvement of judges in immigration cases.

“Think of it, we are the only country, essentially, that has judges,” Trump said during an earlier Fox interview in May. “Who ever heard of a system where you put people through trials?”

He has routinely attacked his own Justice Department, and did so again during Thursday’s Fox interview, complaining that the far-right Republican he appointed as attorney general, Jeff Sessions, is not actually in charge of the department.

Trump doesn’t care about the rule of law. He only cares that the noose tightened further around his neck this week, when the man who knows where the bodies are buried made clear he was no longer willing to take a bullet for Trump.

And that, to him, is the “real” crime.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.