Former President Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, said Tuesday he plans to flee the country if his former boss wins in November.
“I'm getting out of here. I mean, I'm already working on getting a foreign passport in a totally different name,” Cohen told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace when asked what he thought would happen to him if Trump retakes the White House.
“As far as my relationship with my wife and kids goes, I don't know,” he continued. “I certainly don't want them to move to a place where I want to go.”
This statement is The New York Times reports The Republican nominee outlined some of the plans he plans to pursue against his opponents if he returns to the presidency, and the Times named Cohen as one of those on the list.
Cohen has risen to the top of Trump's foes list in recent years, a departure from his previous role as the former president's fixer.
But the former lawyer turned on his boss, pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance charges and other offenses and served a three-year sentence, some of which he claims he committed at Trump's direction, and testified as a key witness in the New York hush-money case earlier this year.
The trial centered on false business records relating to payments made to silence witnesses about an alleged affair with the former president around the time of the 2016 election, and the guilty verdict made Trump the first sitting and former president to be convicted of a criminal offense.
Cohen said he was not the only one who should fear retaliation if Trump returns to power.
“The president of MSNBC, General Milley, Liz Cheney. How many people has he said to me, if I had the ability, I would go after these people,” he said, referring to Cheney, the former Wyoming congressman and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Cohen also lamented the recent Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity as “a disaster.”
“The president now believes he can not only do whatever he wants, but that he won't be prosecuted,” Cohen said. “This is an immunity that only the president has.”
The ruling, which determined that core presidential powers are immune from criminal prosecution, was widely seen as a victory for Trump in his legal battle.
