Michael Cohen: Putin is asking what Russia can do to help Trump
Michael Cohen said Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is asking his country what it can do to help former President Trump as his legal fines continue to mount.
Cohen, who previously served as Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, suggested that Putin may be looking into how he can help Trump after a judge ordered the former president to pay nearly $355 million in a New York fraud case last week. This staggering number, combined with the $83.3 million E. Jean Carroll verdict from last month, amounts to $438.1 million in legal penalties for the former president.
“If you're Vladimir Putin, I 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,” he said on CNN’s "This Morning”.
“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?' Well, one you can't fix stupid. So that is what it is. You just take advantage of it,” he added.
"All right, as far as the ... poor man and a rich man, we'll figure out how to put some money in his pocket because that’s all Donald Trump cares about."
Cohen then took aim at Trump over his legal fees and raising money to pay for them.
“He doesn't care about America. He's out there hocking sneakers, he's out there hocking whatever he can, grifting off the poorest of Americans,” he said. “Think about who's supporting Donald Trump and the use of his 757 plane, 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.”
Trump has already said he will appeal the judge’s verdict and has railed against the massive penalty.
After the judge ordered Trump to pay hundreds of millions in his fraud case last week, Cohen predicted that the former president would need to liquidate his assets to pay. He reiterated this prediction on Monday.
“It's like the death touch to Donald. They don't have that available cash. I 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 said.
“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,” he added.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.