Michael Cohen’s year has been wild. He started 2018 as a known associate of U.S. President Donald Trump, who had stuck by the the president through issues that earned him scrutiny. As the year went on, though, that vague idea of “scrutiny” compounded into something very tangible. Authorities raided his home, office, and hotel room earlier this year, and subsequently revealed he’d been under criminal investigation for months.
Recently, Cohen has begun to take control of his case, dismissing his past ties to the president. A new sit down with Reverend Al Sharpton is seemingly on the way at MSNBC that could add to the weight of that dismissal.
Sharpton, who hosts the Sunday show PoliticsNation, tweeted a message early Friday reading:
‘Just spent an hour w/ Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney. I bet you’re wondering what we could be talking about! Stay tuned’
Cohen responded to that tweet, writing:
‘I have known Rev for almost 20 years. No one better to talk to!’
What they talked about remains to be seen.
Last time Cohen sat down for an interview with a host at a major network, the national political conversation reverberated with talk of him flipping and cooperating with prosecutors against the president. He set that talk off by commenting to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos:
‘My wife, my daughter and my son have my first loyalty and always will. I put family and country first.’
That list conspicuously excludes the president. Cohen’s new lawyer Lanny Davis cast the comment as a “declaration of independence” from Trump and his influence.
The Trump team threw Cohen under the bus for months, asserting that he had basically gone rogue and dished out $130,000 in hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels covering an affair with Trump of his own accord. Eventually Rudy Giuliani revealed that Trump had actually reimbursed Cohen for the payment.
On Friday, The New York Times revealed that Cohen had secretly recorded Trump discussing other potential hush money payments before the 2016 election. This money would have gone to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also says she had an affair with the president.
Cohen’s involvement in these issues is under consideration by government investigators as a part of the aforementioned criminal investigation. He has repeatedly been left out to dry by the president, leaving him little reason to dig in and refuse to cooperate. One report from CNN suggested that the severity of any eventual charges against him would weigh on his decision making process; charges could include campaign finance law violations and tax fraud.
What part of this scandal drove any remarks from Cohen to Al Sharpton remains to be seen, as does when the apparent sit down will air. It could broadcast this coming Sunday during the next episode of Sharpton’s show.
Whether Cohen does, in the end, flip remains to be seen as well. He could cooperate with investigators in the criminal case against him, which would expose the president to potential legal jeopardy on that front, and he could also cooperate with Special Counsel for the Russia investigation Robert Mueller’s team.
In the end, thanks in no small part to his own maneuvering, Trump has lost one of his past ardent defenders.
Check out Twitter’s response to the apparent new interview below.
Featured Image via YouTube screenshot
