Friends become enemies: the complicated route of Trump's relatives

Friends become enemies: the complicated route of Trump's relatives
©
GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP
/ MARK WILSON, NICHOLAS KAMM

Tight tensions between Donald Trump and his former lawyer and counsel Michael Cohen are just the latest example of a series of spectacular quarrels between the US president and some of his close confidants.

The Henchman

On paper, Michael Cohen's mission was clear: "President Donald J. Trump's personal attorney".

But in twenty years at his side, the powers of the personal lawyer of the real estate mogul were much broader than those of a clbadic legal adviser: spokesman, first supporter, henchman .. Nobody could support Donald Trump as intensely as Michael Cohen

The latter had once reported seeing in Mr. Trump a "patriarch" and a "mentor", more than a boss. He had even said he was ready to "take a bullet" to protect him.

But their idyll began to collapse when Donald Trump, once elected to the presidency, did not offer him a position in his administration. Their relationship worsened a bit more when Michael Cohen found himself at the center of a federal inquiry, difficulties that the president answered only by his silence.

The loyalty of Michael Cohen is now consumed. A record of a private conversation between the two men was leaked, embarrbading revelations multiplied in the press, provoking the ire of the American president on his favorite social network.

This was the case on Friday morning when Donald Trump responded on Twitter to US media reports that Michael Cohen claimed that Donald Trump had approved a meeting in June 2016 between his family and a Russian lawyer at the Trump Tower.

"I did not know NOTHING about meeting my Don Jr., "said the Republican billionaire on Twitter, accusing his ex-lawyer, without naming him, of" inventing stories "to get away from a" dirty affair that has nothing to do with ". [19659003] The strategist

Apart from Donald Trump himself, there was perhaps no one else who had done as much to allow his election as Steve Bannon. Near the far-right American, the former boss of the ultra-conservative site Breitbart News had managed to build a coalition between the alt-right and the caciques of the Republican party, opening the doors of power to New Yorkers.

In the White House, "President Bannon", as he was sometimes nicknamed, was strategic advisor and had the ear of Donald Trump.

Accused of being responsible for the internal quarrels and author of the leaks that rocked the beginnings of the Trump administration, he left the White House on fairly good terms.

But his participation in the book "Fire and Fury" by journalist Michael Wolff, a controversial account of life in the White House, triggered the wrath of Donald Trump.

The president stuck to him the sobriquet of "Steve the scruffy" and mocked his former strategist, who "started crying when he was sacked and begged for his work".

The pair seems to have been somewhat bogged down since

Senator

When Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions supported Donald Trump early in the campaign in February 2016, the effect was immediate for this bid deemed improbable, giving it legitimacy within the establishment and boosting its chances at the Republican primary in the conservative south.

The pair crossed the country, campaigning, exchanging compliments and, once President, Donald Trump appointed him Minister of Justice.

But when his friend Jeff Sessions decided to recuse himself from the Russian investigation, Donald Trump did not support him, saying then that he would not have never had to give him this job and accusing him of being "VERY weak" for failing to investigate Hillary Clinton. But so far everything is going well for Jeff Sessions: he keeps his attributions.

Moreover, many of those who had a dispute with Donald Trump, including his own children, end up one day by returning to his lap. [19659003] His wife

The first marriage of Donald Trump, with Ivana Zelnickova, did not end well, with his extra-marital relationship with Marla Maples – who will become his second wife – in a celebrity magazine.

As the years go by, Ivana claims today that she still talks to her ex-husband, up to twice a week, describing herself as "a shadow counselor".

28/07/2018 07:37:19 –
Washington (AFP) –
© 2018 AFP