The raid on Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen’s, office and hotel room on April 9 seems to have truly shaken the president. His all-caps tweets and shouted pronouncements that the raid was nothing but a “witch hunt!” which is part of some deep state conspiracy are sure indicators that Trump is truly worried. Now, that concern seems to be turning into a willingness to throw Cohen under the bus to save his own skin.
Even amidst all of Trump’s praise of Cohen as a “fine man with a wonderful family” and a “businessman for his own account/lawyer” (whatever that means), there is an unspoken undercurrent in Trump’s Saturday tweets that indicate that he believes that law enforcement may really have some evidence against Cohen.
Of course, there’s also the preemptive strike against any information Cohen may give to prosecutors under the “even if it means lying or making up stories” quip. Trump is denying any story he fears Cohen may tell before it can make it’s way into the press.
There is only one way Cohen can be made to flip on President Trump, and that is if there is clear evidence that Cohen committed crimes. After all, a substantial amount of evidence had to have been presented to a judge in the southern district of New York to have resulted in a search warrant for Cohen’s office and hotel room. If Trump is convinced that Cohen is guilty and therefore could be flipped, why did he hire him as an attorney? What did Trump know and why has he not already reported Cohen for illegal activity (instead of ranting about made-up illegal activities by former FBI directors and political opponents)?
In other words, why is Trump so focused on the possibility of his lawyer “flipping” if he and Cohen have done nothing wrong?
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The New York Times Maggie Haberman, in a story about the possibility of Cohen flipping, wrote:
‘Mr. Trump’s lawyers and advisers have become resigned to the strong possibility that Mr. Cohen, who has a wife and two children and faces the prospect of devastating legal fees, if not criminal charges, could end up cooperating with federal officials who are investigating him for activity that could relate, at least in part, to work he did for Mr. Trump.’
The sources for that story did indeed include a short quote from Sam Nunberg (the “drunk/drugged up loser” that the man in charge of addressing the opioid crisis refers to in his tweet), but also from Trump’s informal adviser early in the presidential campaign and a longtime friend, Roger Stone. There are also quotes from two of Trump’s biographers and a pastor who worked create a “diversity coalition” alongside Cohen in order to make Trump look less racist.
If all Trump’s dealings with Cohen have been completely innocent and aboveboard, and Cohen really is a nice family man who has done everything by the book, why all the panic and personal attacks from the president?
Twitter was also quick to call out Trump for his inconsistencies; see some of their responses below:
Featured image via Getty/MANDEL NGAN
