There’s a “Michael Cohen Truth Fund,” and it’s raised over $30K in 11 hours

A fundraising campaign for Michael Cohen’s legal fees — called the “Michael Cohen Truth Fund” — has reached more than $30,000 in 11 hours.

President Donald Trump’s longtime lawyer and adviser pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance rules at the “direction of a candidate for federal office” on Tuesday. The crimes pertain to two hush money payments Cohen made during the campaign to former Playmate Karen McDougal and adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who both claim to have had affairs with Trump years before he took over the Oval Office. Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis — also former White House advisor for Bill Clinton — asked people to donate to the fund on cable news Wednesday morning.

“We do ask everybody who is interested in Michael being able to tell the truth to help him out,” Davis said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," directing people to the GoFundMe site, which asks for $500,000 in total. The site notes the money will go "to help Michael Cohen and his family as he goes forward on his journey to tell the truth about Donald Trump.”

So far, nearly 800 people have donated.

For his part, Trump took a jab at Cohen’s legal skills on Twitter Wednesday morning.

In addition to hush money, how much knowledge Cohen has about the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia — which would be of interest to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation — is an open question; he was involved in negotiating business deals with the Trump Organization in Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Russia. Cohen, however, doesn’t appear to have agreed to cooperate with the Mueller team as part of his plea deal.

Other casualties of the Trump era have used GoFundMe to raise money for their legal defenses, including axxed FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos.

Cover image: Michael Cohen, former personal lawyer to President Donald Trump, leaves Federal court, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018, in New York. Cohen has pleaded guilty to charges including campaign finance fraud stemming from hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)