Rudy Giuliani says he had a conversation with Michael Cohen’s lawyers about possibility of a pardon: “I told his lawyers there will be no discussion of a pardon.” “I think that’s one of the reasons why he double-crossed the president.” https://t.co/zkekRcOdti pic.twitter.com/noFPGdXJwT — ABC News (@ABC) December 16, 2018

How does attorney Michael Cohen go from being President Donald Trump‘s “fixer” to implicating him in campaign finance violations and that real estate deal in Moscow? He was allegedly told there’d be no “discussion of a pardon.”

“I had this specific conversation with his lawyers,” Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said on This Week. “And that liar can say what he wants–I told his lawyers there would be no discussion of a pardon. That doesn’t mean the president doesn’t have the–nobody is giving away any power, but, ‘Do not consider it in your thinking now. It has nothing to do with what you should decide about yourself.'” He added, “I think that’s one of the reasons why he double-crossed the president.”

Cohen’s attorney Guy Petrillo declined to comment. A law firm that previously represented Cohen did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime request for comment.

The “fixer” made his name by reportedly threatening reporters, and being one of the president’s most bullish surrogates. Then he pleaded guilty to financial crimes, and lying to Congress about discussions with the Russian government for a possible Trump Tower deal in Moscow. Prosecutors said he implicated his former client by claiming Trump directed him to make payoffs to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy playmate Karen McDougal, two women who claimed to have affairs with the president.

Cohen might have pleaded guilty to shield his wife Laura Cohen from prosecution, Law&Crime Senior Editor Ronn Blitzer suggested in August. Columnist and attorney Elura Nanos also examined the possible ways that a Trump pardon might cause the “fixer” problems in state court.

[Screengrab via ABC News]

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]