Impeach me and economy tanks, says Trump

Donald Trump believes the US economy would tank if he were to be impeached.

Michael Cohen leaves Manhattan federal court after pleading guilty to campaign finance fraud and tax evasion this week. Picture: MEGA

Donald Trump believes the US economy would tank if he were to be impeached.

“If I ever got impeached, I think the market would crash. I think everybody would be very poor,’’ the President told Fox & Friends when asked whether he believed the Democrats would launch impeachment proceedings if they won the House of Reresentatives in November mid-term elections.

Mr Trump said Americans would see economic “numbers that you wouldn’t believe in ­reverse”.

But he also expressed doubt an impeachment would ever happen. “I don’t know how you can impeach somebody who’s done a great job,” he said.

The pre-recorded Fox interview came a day after Mr Trump directly contradicted the explosive claims of his former lawyer ­Michael Cohen, staying he did not know about payments to two ­alleged former lovers until after they were made.

“Later on I knew, later on,” he said, des­pite Mr Cohen’s sworn statement to a court that he paid the hush money “in co-ordination and at the direction” of Mr Trump.

Mr Cohen this week directly implicated the President in a crime when he admitted to a court that he had violated campaign finance laws by making the payments to the women at Mr Trump’s direction.

The President launched a Twitter tirade against Mr Cohen, accusing him of making up stories and “breaking” under pressure.

“If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!” he tweeted.

Mr Trump said he felt bad for his former campaign director Paul Manafort, who on Wednesday was found guilty of eight counts of fraud, because “unlike Michael Cohen, he refused to ‘break’ — make up stories in order to get a ‘deal’. Such respect for a brave man!”

Mr Cohen said the payments — of $US150,000 to former Playboy model Karen MacDougal and $US130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels — were made to buy their ­silence after both had alleged having an affair with Mr Trump.

Mr Trump told Fox that the payment of the money to the women was not a crime because he paid it himself and it did not come from campaign funds.

“Did they come out of the campaign? They didn’t come out of the campaign,” he said. “They came from me. In fact, my first question when I heard about it was, did they come out of the campaign? ­Because that could be a little dicey.”

Mr Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, said Mr Trump was mis­stating the law. “Donald Trump tweeted that it only is illegal if it’s campaign funds, not if it’s personal funds. That is completely false under the law,” Mr Davis said.

The President’s claim that he learned of the hush money payments only after the fact appears to be contradicted by a taped phone call recently released by Mr Cohen’s legal team in which Mr Trump is heard discussing a hush money payment with the lawyer.

Mr Cohen’s claim that Mr Trump ordered him to make an illegal payment has energised Democrats in Washington, who believe it will badly damage the President.

Democrats were care­ful not to highlight the potential for impeachment, fearing it would anger and mobilise Mr Trump’s voting base ahead of the November 6 mid-terms. Republican members of congress were largely silent about Mr Cohen’s dis­closures with house Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell avoiding any detailed response.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders claimed the President was not worried about Mr Cohen’s claims “because he knows he did nothing wrong and there was no collusion … The President in this matter has done nothing wrong and there are no charges against him.”

Ms Sanders said any talk of ­impeachment was “a sad attempt by the Democrats, (it is) the only message they seem to have going into the mid-terms”.

Mr Cohen faces between four and five years’ jail after pleading guilty to eight counts of tax and bank fraud and campaign vio­lations. Mr Davis said Mr Cohen, who once said he would take a bullet for Mr Trump, now believed he was corrupt and dangerous.

He said his client would never want to be “dirtied” by receiving a presidential pardon from him.

Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia