'He does not read the transcripts': Michael Cohen disputes mafia-style threats to protect Trump to Jan. 6 committee
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) revealed on Tuesday that there have been people in former President Donald Trump's orbit sending messages or leaving voice mails that could be considered witness tampering.
"[A person] let me know you have your deposition tomorrow. He wants me to let you know that he's thinking about you..." one note begins. The "he" implied is that it's Donald Trump. Another witness testified that "Trump does read transcripts and just to keep that in mind as I proceeded through my depositions and interviews with the committee."
According to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, Trump doesn't read the transcripts. Speaking to CNN, Cohen explained Trump typically has someone else read the transcripts and put together bullet points for him.
Another fact check CNN asked was the alleged ketchup-throwing story. Former top White House aid Cassidy Hutchinson said that she heard noise from the presidential dining room and went to check it out. That was where she found a White House valet who said that the president was angry. He was cleaning up broken plates and wiping ketchup off of the wall.
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Cohen explained he's never known Trump to throw a burger and ketchup against the wall, but the ex-president has thrown other things.
"I have not seen him take a burger and ketchup and throw it against the wall. I have seen him get incredibly, incredibly angry. I've seen him throw things, newspapers, a magazine, some paper, but I've never seen him throw ketchup," Cohen specified. "Is it possible? Sure. But one of the problems that — look, everybody who saw those Jan. 6th hearings will say the same thing. This was a great, great fly-on-the-wall presentation. I mean, it's like going to see "Top Gun Maverick." you walked out and felt good that finally, something was going to happen. this was the impetus for Merrick Garland to do something by the DOJ. The problem with the testimony is that it's all hearsay. As it relates to Donald Trump."
Cohen explained that Trump will say that there's no proof to what Hutchinson said because there's no document to prove it. He recalled that Trump was trained by Roy Cohn, who explained why he can never put anything in writing so that there would never be any proof. Where Trump has run into trouble with the attempt to overthrow the election, however, is that everyone around him was putting things in writing. Justice Department officials were taking notes, and there were other staffers exchanging emails about requests from the president.
As for the violence in the SUV, Cohen isn't certain about that either.
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"I've never seen or heard that Donald Trump has been in a physical altercation," he said. "I'm not talking as an adult. Even as a kid. So the fact — you could rest assured that while this was going on, if he really wanted to go to the Capitol, he would be this irate. There is no doubt about that. Does that mean he would lunge at a secret service agent, he go to grab the steering wheel? I'm not sure."
He noted, however, that the claim is a kind of "double hearsay," because Hutchinson heard it from someone else. These kinds of colorful factoids aren't going to be what indicts Trump, however.
"Again, that's not going to be the nail in the coffin that we all are looking for in order to see Donald perp-walk with his hand behind his back and his cotton candy flopping in the wind," Cohen quipped with a smile.
See the full interview with Cohen below:
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