Michael Caputo [19659010] But there was also a personal intrigue at work, suggesting hidden dimensions to Cohen's character – or at least to his feelings about Trump. It appeared this week that for all his public statements of loyalty to Trump, Cohen had a secret – an insurance policy, perhaps – in the form of an iPhone in his pocket, set to record.
Investigators seized up to 100 audio files from Cohen, reported the Washington Post, including one published by Cohen's lawyer this week in which Trump can be heard about a payment in cash apparently related to the story of a Playboy Trump manikin, which he denies.
Cohen would be ready to talk to prosecutors about other breathtaking scenes. According to Cohen, Trump personally endorsed a June 2016 meeting at the Trump Tower between campaigners and Russian agents, several television networks reported Thursday night. Trump has already said that he had discovered the first meeting a year after the incident.
If Cohen can reach an agreement with prosecutors to provide clearer testimony about times like this, the team of investigators Robert Mueller could win a new valuable map of the hidden connections that crisscross Trumpworld.
This prospect has clearly shaken Trump, who attacked his former help on Friday. "It seems to me that someone is trying to tell stories to get out of an unrelated jam," writes the president on Twitter
"The human cost is incredible"
What is the danger for Cohen for Trump? Apart from what he might be able to tell Mueller, the former aide could provide evidence of alleged violations of the electoral law by the Trump campaign, according to legal analysts. Or Cohen could politically damage Trump, exploding the credibility of the President – what's left of it – in a way that would change the basic image of the man and his leadership.
Or Cohen could reveal something really shocking. Michael Avenatti, the ubiquitous attorney of pornographic actor Stormy Daniels, announced on Thursday that "Donald Trump conspired with Michael Cohen to pay several more women before election day in 2016" and "they were also concerned about a pregnancy." Avenatti later tweeted that he represented "three more women, all of whom paid money by various means."
Michael Caputo, a former senior adviser on the Trump campaign, said the Avenatti charges did not warrant an answer. Trump denied alleged relations with Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. Mueller's investigation into the links of the campaign with Russia, says Caputo, "destroyed first and foremost the strongest relations" and that Cohen and Trump were part A.
"There is no has no relation that is safe in this investigation "says Caputo. "Because here's the thing.They have no evidence of Russian collusion, but they believe it exists.They do not know what it is, but to prove that it exists, they The human cost is unbelievable. "
Mueller indicted 31 people, 12 of whom Russian intelligence agents, and three former Trump associates have entered into plea agreements with prosecutors. A fourth former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, is awaiting trial on several federal crime charges.
Although Cohen has not yet reached an agreement with prosecutors accused of Trump, the president accused Cohen of violating his trust. this week: "What kind of lawyer hits on a client? So Sad!"
Cohen fell into a defensive stance, vowing to protect his family and portray himself as a servant of the truth, above all men.
Sam Nunberg, a political consultant who has worked for Trump for years, says that the fatal cleavage in the relationship came when Trump acted on the advice of son-in-law Jared Kushner not to bring Cohen to Washington.
"I would say to Michael's defense, this whole thing is a tragedy because Trump would have just given him a job at the White House," said Nunberg. "Michael was extremely loyal to the president, but in the infinite wisdom of Trump's wonderful son-in-law, that treasure, Jared Kushner, who advised him not to make Michael work," Cohen was sidelined. "I mean that very facetiously," says Nunberg about his admiring words for Kushner.
It seems like the ugly fight between Cohen and Trump is about to become ugly, with Trump's servants in the conservative media. a rat. "Not long ago, this would have been the ultimate insult to a man who would have qualified as an ultimate loyalist to a boss he seemed to venerate.
" J & r I've always seen Michael fight for the boss's program every time he breathed in. Caputo said. "But when I heard that he might have made recordings, I I was not surprised. "19659004" Not because I think Michael is the kind of person to do that. It's just that people are doing strange and terrible things. "
