Lawyer, Michael Cohen accepted his own fate in a deal with prosecutors. The Michael Cohen case thats shaking the political and legal worlds tonight. Michael cohen devoted more than a decade of his professional life to being the president s attorney and goto fixer. He once said he would take a bullet for donald trump. I said with Michael Cohen and he told me he could barely walk by trump tower because it made him so sad. To look at a place where they spent a decade together working side by side. Less than two years into the president s term, their once close relationship turned to mutual hostility. Things have shifted. I think he couldnt walk by trump tower now because he would get so angry. Cohens plea deal followed months of controversy. The media reported extensively on cohens alleged Hush Money Payments to a porn star and a maybe model. Whose claims of affairs with donald trump might have few people who knew Michael Cohen as a young man who would predicted he would one day be embroiled in a president ial crisis. By all accounts cohen had a upper middle class childhood in long island. New york. He attended American University in the 1980s, as a brash Real Estate Developer from new york was becoming a nationally known slek sleb rit. His first book, the art of the deal, was a best seller and inspired cohen to strive for an equally glamorous future. Michael cohen has said as a teenager he admired donald trump. Not only for his real estate acumen and seemed to admire his personality. His brashness, his approach to life. Michael was drawn to him. After graduating in 1988, cohen dabbled in politics, volunteering on the president ial campaign of Democrat Michael dukakis. And attended law school at thomas m. Cooley in michigan where classmates noted his big
ambitions. Michael could handle stress, he was a bright guy and he had a good sense of humor and i liked that. You talk to a lot of people. Very personable. I would say he was very motivated. He had his eye on the ball. No question about that. He was a talker and he was going to be a lawyer. He was going to go back and do big deals and be successful in new york city. Cohens legal career began in new york city, working for personal injury lawyer. In 1994, he married his childhood sweetheart, Laura Schusterman at the swanky pierre hotel. The marriage opened doors for cohen. Michael got involved in business and personal dealings with people who his wifes Family Associated with. But some Business Associates skirted and broke the law, including his own father in law. He was convicted of tax fraud in the early 90s and he got probation. Following in his father in
laws footsteps, cohen got involved with the taxi industry. Michael was affiliated with a fleet of 200 cabs in new york city and owned some medallions in chicago. In about 2012 he was reporting about 90,000 a month in income from his taxi business. But two of his Business Associates and taxi medallions, simon gasher and the taxi king were convicted of multiple crimes. This is one of the vulnerabilities that Michael Cohen created for himself. By being in business with someone who got on the wrong side of the law. Gene friedman like psychen checkered history. Simon garber has a very checkered history. All of these Tax Fraud Charges run related to Michael Cohen. But the company he keeps is noticeable. After running for new York City Council in 2003 and losing
in a landslide, cohen turned his attention to real estate. Attracting the attention of a man whose brash persona and glamorous lifestyle had made him a reality tv star. Youre fired. Donald trump who was enjoying fame on his hit show, the apprentice. He bought a 1 million condo in the Trump Building and a 5 million in another Trump Building. Where ivanka trump also lived. After cohen became treasurer on the board for trump world tower, he proved his value to donald trump for the first time. Donald trump is impressed by the effort that Michael Cohen helped lead to oppose a Tenants Movement to reorganize the building. Took trumps side against the other owners in the building and trump was grateful. Cohens ambition was rewarded in 2006 when he became a lawyer for donald trump and shortly after, executive Vice President of the Trump Organization. Michael cohen had found a seat at the table with the mogul he had long admired. It was a pretty alluring universe to be in trump tower. This is a man who idolized him for many years beforehand. It was a dream come true. Coming up, Michael Cohen was a thug, an absolute street thug in the way that he went about defending donald trump and trying to intimidate people that they perceived to be crossing donald trump. music throughout
you wouldnt accept from any one else. Why accept it from an allergy pill . Flonase relieves sneezing, itchy, watery eyes and a runny nose, plus nasal congestion, which most pills dont. Its more complete allergy relief. Flonase. Thats confident. But its not kayak confident. Kayak searches Hundreds Of Travel and Airline Sites to find the best flights for us. So im more than confident. Kayak. Search one and done. But allstate actually helps you drive safely. With drivewise. It lets you know when you go too fast. And brake too hard. With feedback to help you drive safer. Giving you the power to actually lower your cost. Unfortunately, it cant do anything about that. Now that you know the truth. Are you in good hands . The donald had flirted with president ial runs before. Welcome to new hampshire. In 2011, he tested the waters with the full support and encouragement of the Trump Organizations most loyal aides. Chief among them, attorney Michael Cohen. I watch you every night on tv. You better. For cohen it was the perfect way to merge his political ambitions with his business affairs. I think before the election, Michael Cohen was perhaps more political that donald trump was. This was someone who encouraged donald trump to run for president , had been involved in campaigns before. Cohen flew to iowa in trumps private plane to meet with political operatives. Michael cohen was the one who set up this website, should trump run . Trump mentioned the website in a campaign voe. Recently a group formed, a very independent group formed, should trump run. Com. That website triggered an investigation by the federal elections commission. The complaint alleged that Michael Cohen couldnt be independent of donald trump because he worked for donald trump. Even though he said should trump run was independent of donald trump. But in 2011, the f. E. C. Ruled in coens favor. For Michael Cohen, the win was another way of proving his loyalty. The way he initially described it to me was a father son relationship. And when i asked him why he has blind loyalty, he always threw the question back to me as, would you do this for your father . The end of the day, the only people donald trump really considers as family are his own family. Anyone who considers themself to be almost a trump family member, should really take a reality check. Because they tend not to stay around very long. But Michael Cohen did stay and prove his willingness to fight for his boss by
aggressively attacking Donald Trumps enemies, real or perceived. A war of words between a beauty queen and organizers of the miss usa pageant. Pennsylvanias representative claims the competition is rigged. Just after the 2012 miss usa pageant, coowned by donald trump, Contestant Sheena Mown claimed the pageants finalists were predetermined. I would like the truth to be made known. When moanens father spoke with Michael Cohen about his daughters claims, her father said cohen was belligerent. Its terrifying for someone like Michael Cohen working for someone like donald trump to get you on the phone and intimidate you. Part of what a lawyer in that position is supposed to be doing is intimidate people and keep them away from the king. Her allegations were not proven and donald trump won a judgment against mown for defamation. Cohen acted as an attack dog against one of Donald Trumps most hated adversaries, the press. The news website the daily beast felt cohens wrath. The daily beast wrote a story about a deposition that trumps first wife had given in a case. In that deposition, she said she had been raped by trump. She withdrew the claim, saying she didnt mean it in a literal or criminal sense. But in 2015, when a daily beast reporter contacted the Trump Campaign for comment, Michael Cohen increasingly assertive in his role as fixer, responded viciously. And npr released the audio. Im warning you, tread very [ bleep ] lightly. Because what im going to do to you is going to be [ bleep ] disgusting. You understand me . Michael cohen was a thug, he was a street thug in the way that he went about defending donald trump and trying to intimidate people that they perceived to be crossing donald trump. Does michael curse, im going to go after you, im going to take you down. Thats what people do in business. This is not the way that most attorneys operate. But this is why he became a valued member of the Trump Organization. Over the next few years, cohen would take his loyalty to a whole new level. Hes a someone who is a pit bull. He never shies away from a fight. Someone who never hesitates to defend donald trump and the trump family. And we will make America Great again. Michael cohen wasnt just helping with politics, while Donald Trumps 2016 president ial campaign gained Momentum Cohen sought real estate deals for his boss. During several efforts to develop a coveted Trump Megatower in moscow, trump turned to his friend, felix seder. Michael cohen and felix seder jointly tried to propose a construction of a new Trump Tower In Moscow during the president ial campaign and donald trump was aware of that effort. It would be an alleged trip to meet with russian officials that earned cohen a chapter in the steele dossier. Its the Famous Report put together by the former british agent and was paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign. There were a lot of allegations in there that have to do with whether the Trump Campaign colluded with russia. Theres an unsubstantiated allegation that Michael Cohen was in prague and met with russians to discuss hacking of democrats. He continues to deny allegations that were made concerning him in the dossier. Cohens efforts to fulfill trumps dream to develop a Trump Megatower, which would have been the tallest building in russia never came through. But cohen continued to fight hard for his boss. Showing his teeth after the first Republican Debate on fox news in 2016. During which megyn kelly challenged thenCandidate Trump. Youve called women you dont like fat pigs, dogs. Slobs. And disgusting animals. Your twitter account only rosie odonnell. Cohen struck back on twitter. He tweeted lets gut her about megyn kelly, who trump was critical of during the campaign. Megyn kelly was upset about this. Understandably so. Very simple, if megyn kelly or anybody else was going to in his mind going after his boss, he was going to fight back. Its the kind of lawyer that trump would want. During the Campaign Cohen continually took on the media and one target in particular, cnn. You guys are down. It makes sense says who . Polls, most of them. All of them . Says who . While cohens aggressive stance may have surprised some, nothing was as surprising as election night. Here is the first projection in the trump column of decision 2016. Trump had a lot more support
and a lot more states. Among a lot more people than the polls detected. I just received a call from secretary clinton. As trump filled out the roles in his new administration Michael Cohen had reportedly hoped to become his chief of staff. But the loyal attorney was overlooked. There are people around the president who were not big fans of michaels so they encouraged him to keep his distance. But at the same time the russia investigation was heating up. Michael cohen was testifying in front of the house and congress and so at the advice of counsel on both sides they werent doing a lot of talking. Michael cohen got a very rude awakening before trump even got to the white house. He felt shunted aside. He wasnt given a position in the white house. That he wanted. He was making his disappointment known about that i dont think trump or his family particularly cared. To a certain extent he disappeared off the radar screen
when trump went to washington. Woe soon reemerge and play a pivotal role in trumps presidency. He had Material Information about the president s financial dealings. Prior to the 2016 election. And that made him a potentially dangerous person to the president. Computer, order pizza. Cheers kayak. Search one and done. We are the tv doctors of america, and we may not know much about medicine, but we know a lot about drama. From scandalous romance, to ridiculous plot twists. gasping son . Dad we also know you can avoid drama by getting an annual checkup. So were partnering with cigna to remind you to go see a real doctor. Go, know, and take control of your health. It could save your life. Doctor poses dad cigna. Together, all the way. They paid her for life rights to the story and the story was not published before the election. Mcdougal said she was silenced with a wellknown tabloid tactic. A claim the media giant denied. A process called catch and kill. They pay you for the rights to the story and then they kill it. If she had told her story publicly, this would have been something that voters would have considered when they went to the polls. Its been alleged that Michael Cohen was somewhat of a puppet master, made aware of it and was involved in the negotiations in insuring that in fact the story was purchased and killed. The same article referenced another alleged affair with an adult film star named stephanie clifford, aka Stormy Daniels. She said she met donald trump at a july 2006 Golf Tournament in lake tahoe, as shown in this photograph from Daniels Myspace page. Trump has denied these relationships. When the article was published, there was a lot of other news dominating the headlines. From the clinton email scandal to the now infamous Access Hollywood tape. Grab them by the [ bleep ]. With daniels and mcdougal refusing to comment, the 2016 article got buried. But in january 2018, the same journal reporters broke another story about the alleged affairs. This time they revealed Stormy Daniels had been silenced just before the election by Michael Cohen. She signed a Nondisclosure Agreement at about the exact same time that the Trump Campaign was dealing with the fallout from that Access Hollywood tape. So Michael Showen sets up a Shell Company and the only purposes is to pay Stormy Daniels so she will not tell her story. She will not go public. He says without telling
donald trump he would pay 130,000 to Stormy Daniels so she would not speak about this story. Daniels alleged the Parent Company of In Touch Magazine offered her 15,000 for her story in 2011. Our understanding is that they reached out to mr. Cohen for comment in advance of running the story. Mr. Cohen was able to convince them or threaten them that if they ran the story, there would be serious consequences. They decided not to proceed with publishing the story. Then things took a darker turn. Stormy daniels has alleged she was in a parking lot going to a Fitness Class and that some someone approached her in her car with her daughter in the back seat saying stop talking about donald trump. It would be a shame for your young daughter to grow up without her mother. This is something that terrified her. Cohen denies he played any role in the alleged threat. He unequivocally denied it he said ive never threatened her. Ive never spoken to her. Ive never emailed her, texted her, never seen her in person. I dont have any knowledge of any threats being made to her. But