New York, August 22 (RHC)-- U.S. President Donald Trump's former attorney and longtime personal friend, Michael Cohen, has pleaded guilty to eight criminal charges, including tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance violations.  And Cohen has reportedly admitted in court that Trump had directed him to pay off two women -- adult film star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal -- to keep them quiet. 

Cohen’s lawyer Lanny Davis said: “If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn’t they be a crime for Donald Trump?” Davis then appeared on MSNBC and said Cohen is willing to speak with special counsel Robert Mueller about a “conspiracy to collude” with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign.  Davis later also told The Washington Post that Cohen knows about Trump’s participation in a “criminal conspiracy” to hack into Democratic Party officials’ e-mails during the 2016 election. 

Meanwhile in Virginia, a jury found Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort guilty of eight charges related to tax fraud and bank fraud and one charge of hiding foreign bank accounts.  He faces another trial next month.