Former “fixer” Michael Cohen testified against his ex-boss Donald Trump on Monday, telling a jury in Lower Manhattan that Trump was unconcerned about how news of his alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels would go over with Melania Trump—but that he was deeply concerned about how it would play out on the 2016 campaign trail. “This is a disaster, a total disaster,” Cohen claimed Trump told him. “Women will hate me. Guys will think it’s cool, but this is going to be a disaster for the campaign.”
Cohen’s testimony is potentially very, very bad news for the ex-president, as prosecutors argue that Trump was fully in on the $130,000 hush money payment made to Daniels on the eve of the election and that he falsified business records to cover up the reimbursement to Cohen. But it’s probably not the only thing Cohen has been saying lately that has gotten under the former guy’s skin.
In a series of regularly occurring TikTok live streams, Cohen has opined to his audience that his former boss is going to prison, that everyone must vote against Trump in November, and that he, in fact, is considering a run for higher office. In one, Cohen told the group assembled, “Trump 2024? More like Trump 20 to 24 years.” (The 34 felony counts Trump was charged with in the hush money case, which he has pleaded not guilty to, carry a maximum of four years apiece in prison.) In another, Cohen declared, “Trumpism is fascism, and we must eradicate it from our body politic. The only way that we keep democracy over autocracy is by voting. Apathy’s not going to work this time. And don’t be that person who sits on the sideline and has to turn around and say to your kids, your grandkids, ‘I should’ve fucking voted,’ alright? ‘I should’ve done something, but I didn’t.’ That’s on you.”
In a May 9 live stream, Cohen said, “I got the best name recognition out there…I’m telling you, I may run for Congress…I may do it even if I don’t get the blessing of my wife and kids. I’m in one of those zones, and I’m not saying it hyperbolically, I’m saying it legitimately. I met yesterday…with a buddy of mine, hadn’t seen him in a while, who’s a major, major Democratic strategist, not just in the country but specifically as well in New York.”
Several days prior, Rosie O’Donnell called into the live stream to give Cohen a “pep talk” concerning his upcoming testimony, telling him to “not listen to all this negative MAGA shit coming at you.” She added, “What you lied about were things that [Trump] made you do, and you have made a full turnaround in terms of telling the truth, and I think that should be applauded, and you should totally disregard everyone else’s opinion until you get there on the stand.” (In her own live stream following Trump’s civil fraud case in New York, O’Donnell told her audience, “Good news in the never-ending unraveling of our former president: $350 million something he’s paying for lying. For lying and overevaluating. For fraud. That’s what he is, a fraud.”)
Trump is currently under a gag order that prohibits him from attacking witnesses and jurors in the case. Last Friday, judge Juan Merchan said he would tell prosecutors to ask Cohen to refrain from making comments about the proceedings.
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