Michael Cohen Hires Lanny Davis, Lawyer Close to the Clintons

Michael D. Cohen, the former personal lawyer to President Donald Trump who is under investigation by federal prosecutors in Manhattan, has hired Lanny J. Davis, the Washington lawyer and public relations consultant best known for serving in the Clinton White House, to represent him.

The pairing is unusual. Davis has tried to position himself as a key defender of Bill and Hillary Clinton — particularly Hillary Clinton, whom Trump defeated in the 2016 presidential election and continues to attack as “totally crooked.” Cohen was once a fierce defender of Trump.

The president’s allies have long considered the wide-ranging corruption investigation into Cohen and his business dealings to pose an even more imminent threat to the president than the special counsel investigation. Davis said he was persuaded to join the legal team after Cohen said in an interview with ABC News that aired this week that his first allegiance was to his family and to his country, not to the president.

“Like most of America, I have been following the matter regarding Michael Cohen with great interest,” Davis said in a statement. “As an attorney, I have talked to Michael many times in the last two weeks. Then I read his words published on July 2, and I recognized his sincerity.”

He added, “Michael Cohen deserves to tell his side of the story — subject, of course, to the advice of counsel.”

Cohen did not respond to a request for comment.

Davis is expected to join Guy Petrillo, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan, in representing Cohen.

Cohen has made moves to separate himself from Trump, stripping his Twitter profile of reference to the president. And he has told people he is preparing for an onslaught from prosecutors, who have been poring over documents seized in raids on his home and office, and a public relations onslaught from Trump’s associates, who have indicated they will raise questions about Cohen’s credibility. However, they have said to allies that they will go after him only if Cohen strikes first and have indicated they want to avoid provoking him.

Cohen has told allies that he no longer wants to be the “villain” in the narrative about Trump’s behavior.

Davis wrote a book arguing that the election was stolen from Hillary Clinton by the actions of James B. Comey, the FBI director who oversaw the investigation into her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. The Clintons have made the argument to allies.