Michael Cohen said the public should fear that “loose-tongued” former President Trump will be jailed following his guilty plea on Thursday because he could have leaked U.S. “secrets” and endangered national security.
Cohen, a former Trump fixer and key witness for the prosecution, said he wasn’t concerned about Trump’s safety if he went to prison, but was worried about him leaking classified information for financial gain or “bragging rights.”
“Now the leading Republican candidate is a convicted felon, and he’s going to be briefed on national security issues knowing how soft-spoken he is,” Cohen said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Weekend” on Saturday.
“He will leak American secrets to Vladimir Putin or anyone for money or just to brag,” he continued. “He’s done it with an Australian billionaire at Mar-a-Lago. He’s talked to Vladimir Putin in Helsinki about national security issues with no one around except for Vladimir Putin’s translator.”
Trump was found guilty of all 34 felony counts in Manhattan on Thursday after a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying business records to hide an alleged affair during the 2016 presidential campaign. The former president’s sentencing was scheduled for July 11, just four days before the Republican National Convention (RNC), where Trump is expected to be formally named the party’s nominee.
Cohen, a vocal critic of Trump, said Trump does not care about the country and would spill secrets.
“This is not normal,” Cohen said. “Someone like Donald Trump should not be allowed to have this declassified, especially now that he’s a felon. So my concern is that in a prison situation, as I always say, he would be willing to give away these secrets in exchange for a bag of tuna or a book of stamps. And he would do it because he doesn’t care.”
“If America turns against him, he wants to see America burn,” he said. “That’s who Donald Trump is.”
