Former Trump lawyer and mediator Michael Cohen said his former boss will seek violence following his historic conviction for hush money, but most Americans won’t care.
“Will he try to provoke violence? Sure,” he said in an interview with MSNBC on Thursday night. “Will it happen? I don’t think so. I don’t think the American people think as highly of him as he thinks they do.”
“No one will allow him to create the chaos he wants everyone to believe he is capable of,” he added.
The Independent has asked the Trump team for comment.
Cohen has no sympathy for his former boss.
During the hush money trial, in which Trump was ultimately found guilty on 34 counts, the lawyer testified that Trump instructed him to pay porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 weeks before the 2016 presidential election to keep her from going public with allegations of a past affair. He then concealed the payment through a series of repayments.
During the trial, there were some embarrassing moments for the lawyer and numerous attacks from Trump’s defense team, who sought to undermine his credibility.
On the witness stand, he admitted to stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the Trump Organization as part of a reimbursement scheme for the hush money payments he made.
Cohen also told jurors he was once “neck-deep in the Trump cult” when Trump’s lawyers asked him about his past praise for his old boss.
After the verdict, Cohen claimed the decision was an “important day for accountability and the rule of law” and warned the various political leaders vying for Donald Trump’s vice presidential nomination about the risks of working for him.
“Anyone who gets into its orbit loses everything,” Cohen said.
“Thanks to Donald, I didn’t go from rags to riches,” he added. “Thanks to Donald, I went from millionaire to millionaire.”
The lawyer was sentenced to three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to lying to Congress in 2018 and violating campaign finance and tax laws, some of which were related to the hush money scheme.
