President Donald Trump knew it was wrong to order election-eve hush money paid to two women who claimed to have had affairs with him, his former lawyer Michael Cohen said in an interview to be broadcast on Friday.

Trump acted because he “was very concerned about how this would affect the election,” Cohen told ABC News of the women's allegations in his first comments since being sentenced to three years in prison on Thursday.

Trump has said he never directed Cohen to break the law. But Cohen, asked if Trump knew the payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal were wrong, said “of course.” Cohen challenged Trump's assertion that he never told him to break the law.

“I don't think there is anybody that believes that,” Cohen told George Stephanopoulos on the program “Good Morning America”. ABC released excerpts of the interview ahead of its full airing.

“First of all, nothing at the Trump Organisation was ever done unless it was run through Mr Trump. He directed me to make the payments, he directed me to become involved in these matters,” Cohen said. “He knows the truth. I know the truth. Others know the truth,” Cohen added.

“And here is the truth: People of the United States of America, people of the world, don't believe what he is saying. The man doesn't tell the truth. And it is sad that I should take responsibility for his dirty deeds,” said Cohen.

Trump denies having affairs with the women who were paid off just weeks before the election in which Trump beat Hillary Clinton.

According to a CNN report, Trump attended a meeting in August 2015 which federal prosecutors believe was at the centre of a scheme to violate campaign finance laws in order to secure victory for Trump.

CNN says that according to documents filed with the court, Michael Cohen, as well as David Pecker, the chairman of American Media Inc. which is a parent company of the National Enquirer, were also present at the meeting.

News of Trump's presence at the meeting first surfaced in a November article by the Wall Street Journal. The publication said that Trump asked Pecker "what he could do to help his presidential campaign".

"Pecker offered to help deal with negative stories about that presidential candidate's relationships with women by, among other things, assisting the campaign in identifying such stories so they could be purchased, and their publication avoided," CNN reported.

AMI has admitted to "keeping Cohen apprised" of negative stories about Trump.

According to CNN: "The tabloid played a role in facilitating the hush-money payments against the women, Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels, in the months leading up to the 2016 election."

Pecker and AMI haven't been charged with any crimes, CNN has added.

The US president enters his third year in office facing an increasingly perilous situation as federal prosecutors and the special investigation into alleged collusion with Russia close in on him and his inner circle.

But he was as combative as ever on Twitter Thursday when he sought to distance himself from Cohen, his loyal fixer for a decade.

In his first public reaction since Cohen was sentenced, Trump said he was the victim of the attorney's malpractice.

“He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law,” Trump tweeted. “It is called 'advice of counsel,' and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. That is why they get paid.”

Later, he told Fox News that he was being singled out for a grilling over payments that would not cause a ripple elsewhere among politicians.

“Nobody except for me would be looked at like this, nobody,” he said.