Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen is among the associates who the president has lost while in office. Cohen worked for both the Trump Organization and Donald Trump personally, but in the wake of raids on the lawyer and the subsequent revelation of a criminal investigation, the president has left Cohen out to dry and the lawyer isn’t interested in sticking around.
Speaking to The Washington Post, his new lawyer Lanny Davis affirmed Cohen’s intent to go it alone and quit looking to Trump.
He told the publication:
‘He had to hit a reset button. He had to say he respected the FBI. He had to say he believed the intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the election. He had to describe the Trump Tower meeting as extremely poor judgment at best. And, ultimately, he said, “I’m not going to be a punching bag anymore,” which he had been when he said, “I’ll take a bullet.”‘
Cohen originally asserted that he would no longer be a “punching bag” for the president and his legal team while speaking to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos earlier this month.
Trump has refused to cast significant support behind Cohen, lying about his work at one point when claiming the lawyer to have given Stormy Daniels hush money covering an alleged affair with Trump entirely of his own accord. Trump, in fact, reimbursed Cohen for the money he paid the adult film star.
Now, after further development of tension between the two men, Trump has by all appearances completely abandoned his former lawyer.
This week, Cohen shared an audio recording of a conversation he had with Trump about a potential payment to cover the story of Karen McDougal, another woman who says she had an affair with Trump.
In the wake of that revelation, Trump has repeatedly taking to mouthing off about Cohen on Twitter.
On Wednesday, he wrote:
‘What kind of a lawyer would tape a client? So sad! Is this a first, never heard of it before?’
There are lots of things the president hasn’t apparently heard of before, since he likes to call the Russia investigation the worst witch hunt in American history despite the existence of, you know, actual witch hunts in addition to endless other issues — including in the present — far more intense than his feelings getting hurt by the justice system daring to exist.
That rampant disregard for interests outside of his own isn’t paying off for the president considering his loss of his longtime personal lawyer. There’s no doubt more where the tape of Trump and Cohen discussing McDougal came from, and an unnamed Republican operative speaking to The Post shares that in addition to that object of concern, the president is worried about possible stress on his marriage from the affair stories. He was with both Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal early in his relationship with Melania, shortly after she gave birth to their son Barron.
That’s one of many issues on the horizon for the president. Cohen faces an investigation into possible bank and campaign finance fraud, and there’s wide ranging speculation that he will cooperate with prosecutors — and possibly incriminate the president.
Featured Image via YouTube screenshot
