A GoFundMe page to cover the legal expenses for former Trump attorney Michael Cohen was launched on Wednesday with a goal of raising $500,000. Lanny Davis, Cohen's lawyer and an opinion contributor for The Hill, is listed as the administrator of the page, titled the "Michael Cohen Truth Fund." The page had racked up more than $20,000 in donations as of 9:20 a.m. Wednesday. "Michael decided to put his family and his country first. Now Michael needs your financial help — to pay his legal fees," the page description states. ADVERTISEMENT The donations will help Cohen "as he goes forward on his journey to tell the truth about Donald Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE," the page states. Cohen on Tuesday pleaded guilty to bank fraud, tax fraud and campaign finance law violations in the Southern District of New York. While reviewing the charges, Cohen told the judge that he made two six-figure payments to women at the direction of a candidate for federal office, essentially implicating the president. Cohen did not refer to Trump by name during the proceedings, but his comments match the accounts of payments to adult-film star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both women have said they were paid to remain quiet about alleged affairs with the president. Prosecutors additionally alleged Cohen failed to disclose $4.1 million in reported income, which allowed him to obtain various loans which he would otherwise have not have been able to access. Cohen was released on $500,000 bond. He is due back in court for sentencing on Dec. 12. Davis has said in the aftermath of Cohen's plea that his client is not hoping for, nor would he accept, a pardon from Trump. Davis said Cohen would also be willing to share what he knows with special counsel Robert Mueller Robert (Bob) MuellerSenate Democrats urge Garland not to fight court order to release Trump obstruction memo Why a special counsel is guaranteed if Biden chooses Yates, Cuomo or Jones as AG Barr taps attorney investigating Russia probe origins as special counsel MORE. Trump on Wednesday morning offered his first public comments on Cohen's plea, recommending against retaining the services of his long-time personal fixer. "If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!" Trump tweeted.<doc-sep>A new online fundraiser to help Michael Cohen with the legal fees of his case has raised more than $19,000 since his admission in court. On Tuesday, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight federal charges, including five counts of tax evasion, two counts of campaign finance violations, and making false financial statements, and said he worked to influence the 2016 election “at the direction of the candidate.” So Cohen’s lawyer former White House Special Counsel Lanny Davis set up a GoFundMe page called the “Michael Cohen Truth Fund” with a goal of the online fundraiser with the goal of $500,000. Davis urged viewers to donate to Cohen on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on and the Today Show on Wednesday morning, and as of 9:15 a.m. on Wednesday, it had collected more than $19,000 in donations. “On August 21, Michael Cohen made the decision to take legal responsibility and to continue his commitment to tell the truth,” the GoFundMe page reads. “Michael decided to put his family and his country first. Now Michael needs your financial help—to pay his legal fees.” Online fundraisers like these are not without precedent, and people have been willing to contribute. Earlier in August, a GoFundMe campaign for ousted longtime FBI agent Peter Strzok raised $441,760 to help pay his legal costs after his lawyer said Strzok was removed from the Russia investigation over politically minded text messages. And in April, ousted onetime FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s legal defense fund tripled its original goal, raising more than $530,000, before it stopped accepting donations. Get The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. Please enter a valid email address. * The request timed out and you did not successfully sign up. Please attempt to sign up again. Sign Up Now An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. Please try again later. Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder. Contact us at letters@time.com.<doc-sep>Legal fees are expensive, and Michael Cohen—whose commission to broker the sale of a luxury Hermes bag was $30,000 or at least 30% of a similar bag’s value—should know. He going to have to pay quite the bill once he’s done with his federal case. In his plea deal with prosecutors, Donald Trump’s onetime personal lawyer, incriminated the president in describing how they arranged to pay off women who claimed they had relationships with Trump. To help this white-collar criminal out, his attorney Lanny Davis has started a GoFundMe campaign, the Michael Cohen Truth Fund, hoping to “help Michael Cohen and his family as he goes forward on his journey to tell the truth about Donald Trump.” The crowdfunding effort is aiming for $500,000, with the promise that it “is a transparent trust account.” Yes: The campaign is asking people to donate to help a man who has just pleaded guilty of eight counts of fraud and campaign-finance violations. Apparently, trust is in the air: More than 1,300 people have given anywhere from $5 to $1,000, a total of nearly $50,000 within the first 13 hours. The donations have predominantly been small, and anonymous, though several have been donating under the name of people close to Trump—or supposedly so. Scrolling through the donor lists, there are donations attributed to or on behalf of Melania Trump, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Rudy G., Stormy Daniels, and Vladimir Putin.<doc-sep>“Could I just take one opportunity to remind everyone that Michael Cohen has suffered a tragic and difficult experience with his family?" asked Davis via satellite. “He’s without resources and we’ve set up a website … that we’re hoping that he will get some help from the American people so that he can continue to tell the truth."<doc-sep>
Within about 24 hours, Michael Cohen has raised more than $130,000 to help in his legal fight. More than 2,000 people donated to the "Michael Cohen Truth Fund" to help the president's former lawyer and fixer. The effort was started by Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis. "Michael decided to put his family and his country first. Now Michael needs your financial help – to pay his legal fees," Davis wrote on the page. He added the fund was a "transparent trust account, with all donations going to help Michael Cohen and his family as he goes forward on his journey to tell the truth about Donald Trump." It wasn't long ago that Cohen pledged his complete loyalty to Trump, even saying publicly he'd take a bullet for his boss. That relationship crumbled over the last few months, especially after a federal raid of his office, hotel and home in April. Still, Cohen has gone from being a villain in the public eye to having thousands willingly open their wallets to help him. He's worth millions and has been taped in the past threatening reporters, once telling a Daily Beast journalist to tread "very f------ lightly because what I'm going to do to you is going to be f------ disgusting. Do you understand me?" Cohen ended up pleading guilty on Tuesday to eight federal charges, including campaign finance violations. While appearing in court, Cohen implicated the president by saying he acted on behalf and at the direction of "the candidate," plainly meaning Trump. The donations to him vary from small amounts such as $5 or $10 to $100 or $500. One anonymous donor gave Cohen $15,000 on Wednesday. Stormy Daniels, the porn star who alleges to have had an affair with the president and has been at odds with Cohen, is also crowdfunding to raise money for legal services. Her fight is against both Trump and Cohen, who helped negotiate the hush agreement she is attempting to be freed from. Her fund has raised more than $585,000 over the months.