Trump’s former personal attorney has set up a GoFundMe to pay his legal fees.
A fter spending more than two decades as Donald Trump’s personal bagman, attorney Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty Tuesday to tax evasion and making an illegal campaign contribution, is trying to turn over a new leaf. The new-and-improved Michael Cohen, wouldn’t you know it, is actually a brave Trump foe —a freshly minted #Resistance hero determined to cut through the president’s lies and reveal the dark, grim truths about Trump’s bad behavior you’ve suspected were there all along. All he needs to do it is $500,000 of your money.
In Wednesday morning appearances on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and NBC’s Megyn Kelly Today, Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis announced the establishment of the “Michael Cohen Truth Fund,” calling it an opportunity for Cohen to “get some help from the American people so that he can continue to tell the truth.” (At separate times, he confusingly referenced the site as MichaelCohenTruthFund.com, which this reporter’s web browser flagged as a malware site, and MichaelCohenTruth.com, which now redirects to Donald Trump’s own campaign website. The real fund is hosted on GoFundMe.)
“On August 21, Michael Cohen made the decision to take legal responsibility and to continue his commitment to tell the truth,” the petition reads. “Michael decided to put his family and his country first. Now Michael needs your financial help—to pay his legal fees.
This is somewhat bizarre to contemplate. On the one hand, Cohen is far from the first Trump antagonist to attempt to cash in on that status, not through traditional means like writing a salacious tell-all or landing a cushy talking-head gig, but by literally begging the anti-Trump public for money. Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe scooped up $500,000 of his own through GoFundMe after Trump fired him in March, and disgraced FBI agent Peter Strzok has collected nearly as much again—$442,315 at time of writing—just this month.
But at least McCabe and Strzok had compelling yarns to spin of their own political martyrdom—in their telling, they spent whole careers as dedicated public servants, only to be fired by a craven maniac simply for refusing to shirk their civic duties.
“For the last year, Pete, his work, and his character have been the target of highly politicized attacks, including frequent slanderous statements from President Trump, who actively—and apparently successfully—pressured FBI agents to fire Pete,” Strzok’s GoFundMe petition reads. “We ask you to support a man who has dedicated his life to defending America; to stand up for the freedoms on which this country was built and a government that truly serves the people by protecting all Americans, including dedicated government employees, from constantly being subjected to the whims and influence of politicians.”
Who’s Michael Cohen? A lifelong Trump fixer who’s going to jail for cheating on his taxes. You wouldn’t think that’s a narrative that would get #Resistance folks diving for their checkbooks. You wouldn’t think it—but he’s raised $57,000 dollars in just over 12 hours. Apparently, there are some people for whom turning on Trump covers a multitude of sins.
