U.S. President Donald Trump attends an event to announce that the Space Force Command will move from Colorado to Alabama, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 2, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
President Donald Trump's former attorney revealed the president's "ugly" motivation behind his attempts to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey in a Thursday column.
Michael Cohen, who was the Trump Organization's attorney, argued in a new Substack essay that Trump does not seem to care about whether charges brought by the Department of Justice stick against Comey. Instead, Cohen argued that Trump appears more focused on making a "spectacle" out of Comey, someone whom he sees as more than "just an adversary."
"In Trump’s mind, Comey isn’t just an adversary; he’s the guy who tried to cripple his presidency from the start," Cohen wrote. "That hatred is mutual. I predicted Comey would be indicted, and I said others would follow: Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, Jack Smith, Adam Schiff."
"My advice then still stands: lawyer up, because this is about to get ugly. Real ugly," he added.
Earlier this week, MSNBC reported that the Trump administration plans to pursue charges against Comey in a grand jury setting. Reports indicate that the administration may pursue perjury charges based on Comey's testimony in 2020 about the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. election.
"In Trump’s DOJ, the charge is secondary," Cohen wrote. "The prosecution and the spectacle is the point."