Once a Trump loyalist, now a Trump foe.
« I’m the guy who protects the president and the family. I’m the guy who would take a bullet for the President, » Cohen told Vanity Fair in an interview published two weeks after Cohen lied to Congress. Cohen said in court Thursday he lied « out of loyalty » to Trump.
Reacting to the news, Trump bashed his former attorney, telling reporters that Cohen is a « weak person and not a very smart person. »
« Michael Cohen is lying and he’s trying to get a reduced sentence for things that have nothing to do with me, » he said.
The tough words from Trump are the latest in a feud between the President and his former fixer.
Cohen, 52, worked for Trump for nearly a decade as Trump’s legal counsel and an executive vice president at the Trump Organization, which he joined in 2007.
Cohen’s tasks in the organization ranged from running a Trump-backed mixed martial arts company to real estate branding deals. At one point, he even arranged an engine repair for Trump’s plane.
Before he met Trump, Cohen had been a New York attorney. He first came to Trump’s attention after buying apartments in Trump’s developments and lobbying for Trump in a dispute with other residents, impressing Trump with his win.
« They say I’m Mr. Trump’s pitbull, that I’m his right-hand man. I’ve been called many different things around (The Trump Organization). What I am is a loyal employee. I like the man. A lot, » Cohen said in 2011.
The relationship was more than an attorney-client relationship, according to David Schwartz, Cohen’s attorney and friend since the 1990s.
« It was something much deeper, almost father and son kind of kind of thing, » Schwartz told CNN.
