Michael Cohen, former President Donald Trump’s former fixer, said the only way for his former boss to avoid fines and jail time is to win the November 2024 presidential election.
“Donald’s current theory is that the only solution for him financially and criminally in terms of incarceration is whether he wins the election or not,” Cohen said. Said Friday’s MSNBC “Deadline: White House.”
“He’s not running for president to do good for America. He wants to do good for himself. And the only way he can do good is , to win the presidency,” Cohen continued. “This is all about running for the purpose of saving yourself.
His comments came after Trump was convicted of fraud last September and ordered by Judge Arthur Engoron to pay a fine of about $355 million. The ruling ends a months-long civil fraud trial after New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) accused Trump and his companies of inflating and inflating assets to obtain tax and insurance benefits. came to an end.
The ruling also prohibited him from doing business in the Empire State for three years.
Asked if Trump could afford to pay the fine, Cohen sounded less optimistic.
“This is an incredible amount of money for virtually anyone,” he said Friday. “There are probably only a handful of people in this country who could write a check for $500 million. Donald is not one of them.”
He added that a ban would be a “huge problem” for the former president, agreeing with the host that “he’s stuck.”
Cohen called Engoron’s verdict “fair and just” and praised the judge’s statement that the testimony at trial was “credible.”
“I think this sentence was fair and just. I think Judge Engoron says it all in this 90-plus page judgment — especially on page 41, the fact that I told the truth. ” and claimed that Trump and his team wanted to “discredit me.” Avoid this ruling.
“I actually thought the amount would be higher, and I thought it should have been,” the former lawyer added. “However, I defer to Judge Engoron’s decision.”
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