Longtime Michael Cohen friend thinks he still has 'sick affection' for Trump
May 13, 2024
Michael Cohen has described his 15 years with Donald Trump as akin to being in a cult and, after conversations with him, longtime friend Donny Deutsch agrees — describing his relationship as being akin to Stockholm Syndrome.
Cohen took to the stand on the 15th day of Trump's hush money trial Monday, in which the ex-president faces 34 felony counts for the falsification of business records involving alleged payments to keep adult actress Stormy Daniels quiet about an affair.
Talking about the work Cohen did to help try and save Trump from bad press around the allegations, the former president's ex lawyer described a desperate effort to "get credit" or acknowledgment from Trump for a job well done.
Deutsch told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace that Cohen was once obsessed with Trump coming to his son's bar mitzvah.
Read More: Michael Cohen: Trump mastered the art of the dodge to avoid accountability — until now
"It was almost like a father out of town. Are you going to make it?" said Deutsch. "It was an ongoing thing for him to come to his son's bar mitzvah. His own self-worth was completely tied up. If you think about Trump and all the words you use for Trump — for Cohen, you know, belligerent and tenacious and pugnacious. It's Trump. ... He is a lot more like Trump than Trump's own sons."
"And he, to this day, I think there's this sick affection deep down in there," Deutsch went on. "He just was mesmerized. It gave him his reason to stick his chest out, and he stuck it out, and that's why there are a lot of people having issues with him. He would have literally have taken a bullet for [Trump]. He took out a home equity loan to pay off ..."
Wallace cut in to exclaim, "He went to jail for him!"
Former federal prosecutor and NYU Law Professor Andrew Weissmann said that there was certainly a "really interesting dynamic in terms of what Cohen was willing to do" for Trump.
Prosecutors leaned in on that line of thinking, Weissmann explained, asking if Cohen could be a "bully" or a "fixer" for Trump, and he agreed.
"So, it was such an interesting dynamic on a personal level, and I really do think so because they will hear about all of his recent antics, including what he did just in the last week. That's going to come out on cross-examination. I think that love for him is, frankly, the way to understand the betrayal."
New York Times reporter Sue Craig said that the fidelity of Cohen to Trump helps fully understand the anger Cohen had, particularly after not being considered for any White House positions.
Deutsch agreed, saying, "I think he's hurt. He's like a very sensitive guy. It's so personal. He was so tied up with him personally. And then I just — in all my years in talking to him — and I've done a lot of counseling with him. We really got in there together. There's a hurt that he has, and I don't know where that — that has no legal implications, just something I want to share."
Wallace said that it's central to what the jury will make of him. She asked Weissmann, who once tried mob cases, how those close to "the boss" would feel about similar cases.
"The hard part about being a witness is you have to be candid with yourself," said Weissmann. "And so you have to take this hard look at why you've done stuff and be candid about it. It is not an easy thing, when you're in Michael Cohen's position, or Rick Gates' position. People think it's easy because you can get out of jail — you're obviously doing it because you're hoping for a lower sentence. It is a difficult process."
Weissmann recalled Cohen's comments about being angry he wasn't invited to join Trump's administration, noting he would never be "chief of staff material," but "I was hurt that I wasn't even on a list of being considered."
"So he sort of comes up with the idea of being his personal counsel, and Donald Trump says yes. But he said it was so hard because he felt he had done so much," recalled Weissmann. "Of course, the jury has heard from David Pecker the sort of tape recording of his expressing how angry and hurt he is. So, you get this real sense of, like, he was willing to do anything for this guy."
See the clips below or at the link here.
Part 1:
Part 2:
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