Earlier today, CNN broke news of emails sent by attorney Robert Costello to Michael Cohen in April 2018 after the raid on his office. Costello was in touch with Rudy Giuliani, and in one of the emails he said, “Sleep well tonight, you have friends in high places.”

CNN’s report notes Costello’s denial of Cohen’s belief that a pardon was being dangled, and his claim that Cohen was the one to raise it.

But after the CNN report ran, Costello gave another statement that provided an explanation for the curious choice of language in the email.

Costello told The Daily Beast that “sleep well tonight, you have friends in high places” was meant as a joking reference to a Garth Brooks song:

In an email to The Daily Beast, Costello said that he was not hinting at a Trump pardon when he talked about sleeping well at night. Instead, he was referencing a song by music star Garth Brooks in an attempt to comfort a “suicidal” Cohen. And, he added, there were documents that could confirm as much. “To repeat myself, Michael Cohen and his counsel’s interpretation of events is utter nonsense,” Costello said. “This statement: ‘Sleep Well tonight, you have friends in high places’ was a tongue-in-cheek reference to a Garth Brooks song, to a client whose state of mind was highly disturbed and had suggested to us that he was suicidal. We were simply trying to be decent human beings. There is no hidden message.”

Costello claims that team Cohen is selectively leaking emails to push a “false narrative.”

And yes, before you ask, the Garth Brooks song is, in fact, titled “Friends in Low Places.”

[photo via Drew Angerer / Getty Images]

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]