There’s a word President Donald Trump keeps using to describe his former longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen.
Cohen was sentenced last week to three years in prison after pleading guilty to numerous criminal charges and is now cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
According to Trump, that makes his ex-lawyer a “rat.”
Remember, Michael Cohen only became a “Rat” after the FBI did something which was absolutely unthinkable & unheard of until the Witch Hunt was illegally started. They BROKE INTO AN ATTORNEY’S OFFICE! Why didn’t they break into the DNC to get the Server, or Crooked’s office?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 16, 2018
Fox News contributor and former chief assistant U.S. attorney Andrew McCarthy told Trump via Twitter that he might want to pick a different word.
Sir, in mobster lingo, a ‘rat’ is a witness who tells prosecutors real incriminating info. Perhaps a different word? Searches of lawyer’s offices common enough that DOJ has a procedure for them. Here it yielded evidence of crimes you said he should be jailed for. You should stop. https://t.co/EV1txBYrhz
— Andy McCarthy (@AndrewCMcCarthy) December 16, 2018
McCarthy wasn’t the only one to point out the definition:
I worked mafia cases for years in SDNY, mainly Gambino and Genovese. I usually hesitate to make this comparison but here it is completely warranted. This - calling somebody who provides information to law enforcement a “rat” - is straight up mob boss language. https://t.co/K8w46rVMP5
— Elie Honig (@eliehonig) December 16, 2018
This use of the word rat was invented by criminals to describe a criminal who tells the truth. https://t.co/4nAbSyQK84
— Lawrence O'Donnell (@Lawrence) December 16, 2018
I’ve never heard a public official call someone cooperating with law enforcement a “rat” until Trump did. That is a term criminals use. https://t.co/JgfEDpXUXW
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) December 16, 2018
Trump's lack of knowledge about criminal justice is mind boggling. Prosecutors obtain "search warrants" from federal judges by showing probable cause, in compliance with the 4th Amendment, as they did to search Cohen. Trump only sees rats & witch hunts in cases where he's at risk https://t.co/CznxrP3dbm
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) December 16, 2018
Do you realize that by calling #Cohen a “rat” you’re admitting he had something to rat on you with? Are you really this dumb? #Trump
— Andy Ostroy (@AndyOstroy) December 16, 2018
Wrote back in August, this president uses lexicon of a gangster. Whatever one thinks of M. Cohen — for @POTUS to call him a “rat” — utterly disgraceful & unconscionable.
— James A. Gagliano (@JamesAGagliano) December 16, 2018
And, DOJ doesn’t “break into” attorney offices w/o cause, warrant approved by judge. https://t.co/wahhQ3WDx1
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