Donald Trump's former lawyer has again said the president directed him to arrange hush money payments to two women - and said the president knew it was wrong.

Michael Cohen, who was sentenced to three years in prison earlier this week, said Mr Trump "was very concerned" about how the alleged affairs would affect his chances as a presidential candidate.

Cohen, 52, told ABC News "of course" the president knew it was wrong to make the payments, which violated campaign finance laws.

Image: The president denies having an affair with Stormy Daniels

Mr Trump has denied directing Cohen to make payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal - and says the affairs did not happen.

The president tweeted on Thursday: "I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law..."


Mr Trump said legal experts had cleared him of any wrongdoing and repeated his denial that he had broken campaign finance laws.

I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law. It is called “advice of counsel,” and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. That is why they get paid. Despite that many campaign finance lawyers have strongly...... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018

He also argued that Cohen's crimes did not involve campaign finance.

But the lawyer has hit back, saying: "He directed me to make the payments, he directed me to become involved in these matters."

He added: "People of the United States of America, people of the world, don't believe what he is saying.

"The man doesn't tell the truth. And it is sad that I should take responsibility for his dirty deeds."

Image: Michael Cohen once said he would 'take a bullet' for Donald Trump

The lawyer's comments were the first since he was sentenced for admitting making the payments, as well as evading $1.4m (£1.1m) in taxes and misleading Congress about talks with Russians over a Trump skyscraper in Moscow.

"I gave loyalty to someone who, truthfully, does not deserve loyalty," he told ABC.

As part of Wednesday's sentence, Cohen was ordered to forfeit $500,000 (£396,000) and repay almost $1.4m (£1.1m).

The man who once said he would "take a bullet" for the president must hand himself in on 6 March to start his jail time.

Meanwhile, Ms Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti told Sky News that he thought it was "absolutely impossible" that Mr Trump did not know Cohen was making the payments.

He added: "If you look at Donald Trump's continued denials over the last 10 months you'll see inconsistency after inconsistency.

Stormy Daniels' lawyer: Trump 'can be indicted'

"There's no question that he has lied about this in the past and that he's lying about it now because it doesn't make any sense."

When asked if he thinks Cohen's allegations could end Mr Trump's presidency, Mr Avenatti said: "I do, in fact I've thought that for 10 months.

"I said at the time [when the Daniels complaint was filed] I thought this very well could bring down the president of the United States and I think it's more apparent today than it has ever been that there is a significant likelihood of this.

"There is no constitutional prohibition against indicting a sitting president here in the United States.

"In my view an indictment should be issued forthwith and if Donald Trump has a defence to that indictment he should be raising it, but let me be clear: the president is in a lot of trouble and rightfully so."