22 August 2018•Update: 23 August 2018
By Umar Farooq
WASHINGTON
U.S. President Donald Trump held a campaign rally Tuesday in West Virginia but made no mention of the big news of the day.
Earlier in the day, Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded gulity to campaign violations and thereby implicated the president in the scheme to pay hush money to a former adult film actress and a former Playboy magazine playmate.
Almost at the same time as Cohen was pleading guilty in a New York courtroom, Trump’s former campaign chief was found guilty in Virginia on eight of 18 federal charges brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
At the rally, Trump retorted to a familiar refrain to slam the probe led by Mueller on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
"Fake news and the Russian witch hunt," Trump said.
The normally combative Trump chose to highlight campaign issues his administration has been working since taking office.
The president made a bid to cement his administration's immigration policy which has been criticized in the past few months for separating children and families fleeing violence in Central and South America. He remarked about the murder of a white female college student whose death authorities said was committed by an undocumented immigrant.
He did, however, note he would rather fake news than censorship of social media -- a tool the president uses frequently.
Trump has been holding rallies in increasing numbers over the past few weeks in the run-up to the midterm elections in November.
