The judges and prosecutors that were dealing with me are essentially all the same different wrappings tone manner, but always the same coordinated and overly nasty result. They are nasty. That's Donald Trump after a judge in New York ordered him to pay nearly $355 million in a civil fraud ruling that was at a campaign rally in Michigan. Over the weekend, Trump claimed without evidence that he is being politically targeted in these court cases and vowed to change the nation's legal system if reelected. With us now, Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. He's the author of the book Revenge How Donald Trump Weaponized the US Department of Justice Against His Critics, as well as the podcast Mayor Culpa and Political Breakdown. Michael Cohen, great to see you this morning. Thank you so much for being here. $400 million. Donald Trump has been told he needs to pay more than that total in these two cases combined. You knew him for a long time. Pretty well. What do you think that number means to him? That's a total. It's like the death touch to Donald. They don't have that available cash. I've read in several different articles that he has a substantial sum of cash. It's it's not true. I would highly doubt it. He's probably looking at RNC money. He's probably looking at super PAC money again as part of money that he would use. But no matter what, happens, he does not have enough. And there will have to be a liquidation of his assets in order to cover this amount. Because you're right, it's not three 54 it's into the 550 million, especially with the aging, Carol, $88.6 million civil fine as well. It's a lot of money. Any way you look at it. And Michael, you say that you have concerns that somehow it compromises him. How Well, think about it. If you're Vladimir Putin, I'll tell you how Vladimir Putin is probably looking at Donald Trump right now, that Trump is a poor man's idea of a rich man, a weak man's idea of a strong man and a stupid man's idea of a smart man. So as a KGB, former KGB expert, he's looking at Donald and saying, what can we do in order to help to help him to get away from these various different things we want? You can't fix stupid. So that is what it is. You just take advantage of it. All right. As for the poor man, and a rich man, well, figure out how to put some money in his pocket, because that's all Donald Trump cares about. He doesn't care about America. He's out there hacking sneakers. He's out there hacking whatever he can grifting off the poorest of Americans. Think about who is who's supporting Donald Trump and the use of his seven 57 plan, who's supporting Donald with all of his legal fees. It's the poorest people in America. And that's what Vladimir Putin will be taking advantage of. So this was the civil fraud ruling against him. There's now a trial date in the New York criminal case. Against Donald Trump, where we do expect that you will be a witness in the civil fraud ruling. John Judge, author England of your testimony, he said, quote, Cohen's testimony was significantly compromised by seeming contradictions at what he said at trial. What were those contradictions do you think I have I have no idea. Show me where it says that. Because what I know that Judge and Goran said is that Cohen told the truth I mean, that's that's just how he said. He did say he did say, look, he said two things. He said one, there were seeming contradictions that what you said at trial. He also said that there was animosity between the witness and the defendant. And he said that was palpable, providing you with an incentive to lie. But he did say he found your testimony credible because it was corroborated by the evidence. All of my all of my John all of my testimony was corroborated by documentary evidence as well as corroborating testimony you think you're the star witness. Do you think you're the star witness in the criminal trial? You know, I don't know if I am. I mean, I don't care if I am or I'm not. I had been subpoenaed to testify. And, you know, short of exigent circumstances, I will be there. Other than other than that, you know, I have now testified before seven congressional committees. I testify before the Mueller team. I testified to the grand jury for the district attorney case. I testified, as you know, on trial at this case, the Manhattan the New York attorney general case. And I will be testifying most probably at this upcoming March 25th of Manhattan. When was the last time when was the last time with the Show me where when was the last time my testimony when was the last time has been inaccurate. When was the last time you met with the Manhattan Prosecutor's Office? Last week. How much have you been meeting with them? I'd rather not get into a discussion with that. But there's a lot of documentation. There's a lot of witness testimony, and they are putting their case together, as prosecutors do. One of the things that could come into evidence is a recording of a discussion you had with Donald Trump in 2018 that seems to pertain to the payments that were made that are at issue here. Let's listen Correct. So I'm I'm all over that. And I spoke to Allen about it. When it comes time for the financing, which will be what we'll have to pay solve. No, no, no, no, no. I got two things. Why were you recording your client? Okay. So I'm not going to get into the summary substance of any testimony or any information that may be used by the Manhattan District Attorney. Other than to tell you this does not have this recording did not have to do with Stormy Daniels. It had to do with Karen McDougal. Okay. So you don't think necessarily that this will come into evidence? I don't know. You're the one saying it not the Manhattan. I'm not. I was asking. And again and but that you won't even discuss why you were recording Donald Trump in this case. No. Do you think Stormy the question comes out if the question comes out of trial? I'm I'm certain like every other question asked of me, I will answer it truthfully accurately. And I assure you one thing it will not ignore to the benefit of Donald J. Trump, do you think that Stormy Daniels will be a witness in this case? You know, I don't know they're not discussing with me who other witnesses are. I just want to get through this so that I can start my own life again. And like I said, you've heard the amount of testimony that I have provided over the course of the last four years. I'd like to at this stage of my life, I would like to get on with it and put all of this behind. It's about time other people started doing what they can do. Like Bill Barr. Let him come forward and let him talk about all the things he did while he was working for the president of the United States. The reason I was asking you about Stormy Daniels specifically, because I've heard you talk about this case and you make the point this isn't about Stormy Daniels. Exactly. It's about more than that. It's also about how the papers were filed and whatnot. So I was just wondering if you think what she has to say would be relevant. I don't I don't know. Again, we'd have to leave it up to the Manhattan D.A., but I did say that this is not the Stormy Daniels case. This is business record fraud campaign finance violation. She may have been part of the reason for it, but she is not the case. And there are a lot of people out there are new for them because you pay close attention to this and you've got two podcasts who say in the civil fraud ruling, you know, this only helps Trump to be fined more than $350 million in the criminal case here in New York. They say this only helps him having this New York criminal case be the first one that comes up. How comfortable or uncomfortable do you think this criminal trial will be for Donald Trump? I think it should make him very uncomfortable. First of all, any case that's against you, where the result could mean loss of freedom, incarceration should concern any anybody. Now, one of the other reasons it should be concerning is because this is not a difficult case to prove. This entire case will be predicated on documentary evidence and corroborating testimony from a handful plus of people. This is a case that will probably start and finish with a decision in 30 days. So if it starts March 20, fifth by May 1st, you could already have a ruling that could jeopardize the freedom of a former president. I mean, the whole thing is absolutely astonishing that there is a former president of the United States that is now indicted on four criminal matters with 91 charges. 91 counts against him. It's it's astounding. Michael Cohen, thank you so much for coming on this morning. Always great talking to you. Appreciate it. Great to see you, John.
