(RNN) – Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former attorney and so-called "fixer," has turned to crowdfunding to cover his legal fees.
Cohen pleaded guilty Tuesday to eight federal crimes, including multiple counts of tax evasion, a count of bank fraud and two counts of campaign finance violation.
He implicated Trump himself as being complicit in the crime of campaign finance violation, saying "in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office," he concealed information which would have hurt Trump in the 2016 election.
"I participated in this conduct, which on my part took place in Manhattan, for the principal purpose of influencing the election," Cohen told the court.
Cohen has faced high-profile legal trouble since April, when the FBI raided his office, home and hotel room in New York, seizing many damaging documents.
Despite once saying he'd take a bullet for Trump, Cohen's loyalty to the president began to publicly wither recently.
Last month, Cohen gave CNN a secret recording of a conversation he had with then-candidate Trump, in which the two discussed possibly buying the rights to an unpublished tabloid story revealing a former Playmate's alleged affair with Trump – a story the tabloid reportedly obtained in order to quash on Trump's behalf.
Lanny Davis, Cohen's lawyer, launched a GoFundMe account Tuesday for his client, calling it the "Michael Cohen Truth Fund."
Here's how Davis explained the fundraising push:
On July 2, 2018, Michael Cohen declared his independence from Donald Trump and his commitment to tell the truth.
On August 21, Michael Cohen made the decision to take legal responsibility and to continue his commitment to tell the truth.
Michael decided to put his family and his country first. Now Michael needs your financial help -- to pay his legal fees.
The Michael Cohen Truth Fund is 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.
On Wednesday, Davis told MSNBC: "In order to get Michael to be able to help, we need help on this fund, MichaelCohenTruthFund.com. We ask everybody to help Michael Cohen tell the truth about Donald Trump."
The GoFundMe account raised $10,000 within half an hour, according to Business Insider.
Just over $120,000 of Davis' $500,000 goal was raised as of Wednesday evening.
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