MSNBC analyst says Trump Organization is contractually on the hook for Cohen's legal bills -- here's why

Michael Cohen's lawyers filed court documents demanding that President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization pay for his legal bills. While the idea is being mocked from both sides of the political aisle, one analyst explained that they might be on the hook to do it after all.

During a Thursday discussion on MSNBC, investigative reporter Tom Winter quickly read through the court filing to explain that the demand is not from his legal bills after signing his cooperation agreement.

"So basically what it is suggesting is that Michael Cohen incurred a significant amount of his legal bills because of his testimony before Congress in 2017," Winter explained. "This had to do with his -- also with his search warrant. He is saying that 'there are bills and attorneys fees that I had back then and you agreed to pay those bills.'"

Winter noted that the filing alleges he and the Trump Organization entered into an agreement that legal bills would be paid and he's asking for that commitment to be upheld until the point he agreed to cooperate with investigators. He said that it's unclear at what point the legal bills should have stopped.

"It is a little bit difficult," Winter noted. "If he entered into a written agreement with the Trump Organization in July of 2017 and they said, 'Hey, as a result of your work for us, we agree to indemnify you and pay your legal bills, the Trump Organization up until the point that Michael Cohen didn't want to be associated with them anymore, we would still have to look at that contract language, again, assuming these allegations are true that Michael Cohen is presenting here, frankly, the Trump Organization is on the hook."

He noted that this isn't uncommon when an attorney is working for a company. The example he gave was that if an employee of NBC were sued for their work at NBC, then the network would be on the hook for the legal bills. Such is the case with Cohen.

"It depends on your employer and what the agreement happens to be, but if Michael Cohen's allegations are true and that he did enter into an agreement with the Trump Organization, then his legal bills certainly up through the search warrant process, and those were very significant legal bills we're told, should be paid by in fact the Trump Organization."

Watch the full analysis below: