President Donald Trump’s longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen gave his first interview since his house was raided by the FBI a few months ago in relation to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election — and the media, of course, spun it to further their Russia narrative of collusion.
The interview was done by George Stephanopoulos of ABC, who prior to his media career, was then-President Bill Clinton’s communications director and senior advisor. Stephanopoulos found himself in hot water in 2015 after it was discovered that he reported on the Clinton Foundation without ever mentioning that he had personally donated $75,000 to it.
In his summary of his interview with Cohen, Stephanopoulos paints the attorney as a once Trump loyalist who now has decided to turn on the president, an act the ABC talent clearly is excited about.
Stephanopoulos infers that Cohen, who once said he would “take a bullet” for Trump, is abandoning his loyalty to the president, citing Cohen’s emphasis on putting his family first in any scenario:
“When I asked Cohen directly what he would do if prosecutors forced him to choose between protecting the president and protecting his family, he said his family is ‘my first priority,’” Stephanopoulos writes, as if family loyalty is a rare attribute for a husband and father.
He hit the ground running Monday morning teasing the interview with the angle and saying Cohen is "now very much his own man" as if he underwent some sort of transformation over the past few months. The media are already eating it up.
Cohen also reportedly said he would not allow himself to be a “punching bag” as a “defense strategy” if the investigation ever did become damning to the president.
Stephanopoulos went on to mention how the former executive vice president of the Trump Organization did not comment on the allegation that he paid off porn star Stormy Daniels just prior to the 2016 presidential election.
Stephanopoulos seems to believe he's onto some groundbreaking discovery.
Hidden deep within the story is one key detail that the “journalist” fails to elaborate on:
“Cohen believes Mueller will not find any evidence that he had any illegal or improper dealings with the Russians,” writes Stephanopoulos.
That’s a pretty important detail, right? Apparently not, as Stephanopoulos only includes one line — without a single quote.
Talk about selective reporting.