Michael Cohen, former personal attorney and “fixer” to Donald Trump, delivered a blunt warning on Wednesday to the former president’s closest associates and even his own family.
“I think Donald Trump is going to flip on all of them,” he warned, “including his children.”
Cohen spoke on MSNBC one day after it was revealed that the Trump Organization is now the subject of a criminal investigation by the New York attorney general.
“I really believe that Donald Trump cares for only himself, and he realises that his goose is cooked,” Cohen said.
And that means he’ll start looking for others to blame, he said.
First, he said, Trump will blame Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg and others involved in his finances.
“It wasn’t me. It was Allen. It was my accountant. It was the appraiser,” Cohen said, mimicking a potential Trump argument. “It’s never Donald. See, this is the problem. It’s never, ever Donald Trump. It’s always somebody else.”
And when investigators start raising questions about Trump’s tax returns, he’s going to blame those closest to him.
“He’s going to turn on his accountant and point the finger,” Cohen predicted. “He’s going to say, ‘Don Jr. handled that, Ivanka handled that. Melania. Don’t take me. Take Melania.’ He’s going to tell them to take everyone except for himself. That’s just the kind of guy he is.”
Cohen worked for Trump for years until turning on him in 2018 and cooperating with investigators. He pleaded guilty to lying to Congress and campaign finance violations for arranging the hush-money payments from Trump to porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison but was released into home confinement last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
On Wednesday, he said some of the information he provided – including taped conversations with Trump – shows how closely the former president directed everything around him and his organisation.
And that, he said, could land the Trump family in prison.
“I do have to say that my credibility, I believe, is going to end up getting Donald, Don Jr., Ivanka, Jared, Eric, Weisselberg, his kids, some orange jumpsuits,” he said.