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Caught in limbo while he's waiting for his conviction, Michael Cohen spent a weekend of reflection Rosh Hashanah with his family on Long Island. Cohen, a proven Trump loyalist who became an unlikely antagonist, had a lot to internalize, mainly following his decision last month to plead guilty to eight federal crimes. But with the approach of the Jewish New Year, two persistent problems reappeared. One was his frustrations with Michael Avenatti, the pugnacious advocate for adult actress Stormy Daniels. The other, a battle with the president Donald Trump about money.
The last hour of Rosh Hashanah, things were a little simpler, but not less heavy. At that time, Cohen and his lawyer were negotiating a time for him to testify at Capitol Hill of Russian electoral interference. But much of his story still had to be played out. Avenatti had not become a ubiquitous presence in the green rooms of the cable and his client, Daniels, had not yet entered the American lexicon. The payment of $ 130,000 that Cohen had paid to Daniels shortly before the 2016 election, buying his silence on an alleged affair, had not yet been the subject of constant media scrutiny or attracted the attention of Robert Mueller. Federal prosecutors in New York had not yet seized millions of documents from his properties. After a prolonged public battle over the validity of the non-disclosure agreement and the circumstances under which the payment was funded, all that went on reached its peak when Cohen was declared clear about what was going on. had passed, implicating Trump as co-conspirator in a plot to violate campaign finance laws. Last weekend, Cohen's lawyer said in a letter to a California judge that his client was willing to rescind the non-disclosure agreement, effectively attempting to terminate the civil suit brought by Daniels against Cohen and Trump. case.
Avenatti, who launched a presidential appeal in 2020, is less eager to move forward, telling a media after the next day that the cancellation of the deal is just a maneuver to save Trump from a statement uncomfortable. Others have speculated that Cohen was looking for a way to get back into Trump's good graces. According to people familiar with the situation, however, this decision stems mainly from a struggle for legal fees. Initially, it was understood that the Trump organization would pay Cohen's legal fees. Cohen, after all, argued that he participated in the arbitration and civil suit pursuant to Trump's instructions. But in the months following their agreement, the Trump organization decided to abandon this agreement. (Cohen's Lawyer, Brent Blakely, had no comments on the fee agreement. An attorney from the Trump organization did not respond to the request for comment.)
It was the second time Trump reportedly raided Cohen. After federal agents executed search warrants at his home and office last April, the Trump family initially agreed to pay a portion of his legal fees. Trump and Cohen were bound by a joint defense agreement in the Southern District Inquiry and both were involved in a lengthy and costly process of reviewing all documents seized by the F.B.I. to determine the privileged communications between solicitor and client. The Cohen support firm finally pulled out of the deal in July, in part because the Trump Organization had changed its offer to pay Cohen's bills.
Cohen, who is already facing a mountain of legal fees as part of the criminal case in the southern district, can not afford to absorb more bills related to the civil case against Daniels, especially because he has no personal benefit. "Michael has three months until he is sentenced. His family is in pain. He has no business left, "explained one of Cohen's friends. "He does not need that distraction, he does not need the bills, and he does not have to go out of his way to protect Trump, especially because Trump did it all." its possible to hurt Michael. " (Blakely, Cohen's lawyer, told me Monday that he thought the court would have confirmed the deal, but that Daniels "has already told the story that it's not the same." he must tell and it's time to move on ").
Over the weekend, explaining why he and his client were thinking of continuing to move forward, Avenatti mentioned something that Cohen told me in an interview in March, when the Daniels issue was in full swing. speed. In the interview, Cohen told me that he believed that he would win in the case and that Daniels would pay him damages. He first stated that all the money that she would pay him would go to lawyers first, then to charities, before taking a step back. "You know what?" He added at that moment. "The more I think about that, I could even take a long vacation with his money."
After months of acrimony and legal back-and-forth, there was a brief window where anger between them was thawing; In July, I reported that the two men had crossed over at dinner, where they had had a long conversation that Avenatti had told me at the time "productive". Cohen, who has spoken only once since the criminal investigation on him appeared in April, declined to comment on the interaction.
Whatever steps were taken that night, Cohen's lawyer wrote to the judge this weekend and Avenatti responded to continue. "He has threatened her from the beginning and we are not going anywhere," Avenatti told me. "The only question is that I will drop Cohen outside a prison and inside a jail."
Cohen could face a 65-year prison sentence, when a federal judge from the Southern District of New York will sentence him in mid-December, though he is likely to be far less convicted. . This is a reality he has begun to accept in recent weeks, according to people familiar with his thinking. He thinks first and foremost about the impact that his potential incarceration will have on his family. But the second is the sense of injustice he feels in pleading guilty, while Trump, the man who allegedly had an affair with Daniels and made him pay for it, continues to deny wrongdoing and has suffered no consequence. "None of this would have happened if he was not involved with Trump," said Cohen's friend. "At some point, the man has to take responsibility for something. He can not always be on Michael's back. "
Of course, Cohen pleaded guilty for several reasons. One of the reasons, according to his relatives, is that Cohen was ready to tell the truth about Trump. Another argument is that his plea may have limited the possibility that prosecutors will lay additional charges against him. He wanted to protect his wife from legal risks and going to trial easily bankrupted him. He probably would have lost anyway. He felt tight on all sides. As I said last month, the talks between Mr. Cohen's lawyers and prosecutors began just days before the plea agreement was signed, suggesting that the government was proposing a tight schedule. Otherwise, he would have been charged. "There was no choice," said a long-time friend this weekend. "What was he supposed to do in this situation?" And now, his life will never be the same. What life, really?
Cohen does not have any office where to go every day or customers to call. He is not entertaining some of the job prospects he once had. Under his bond, he is allowed to leave the southern or eastern districts of New York only to travel to Florida, where family members live or to Illinois, where he has business, and in Washington, DC where the special advocate and his team are. According to his lawyer Lanny Davis, he is ready to be as helpful to prosecutors as possible. On Tuesday, CNN reported that Cohen's lawyer was scheduled to meet with tax investigators from the state of New York who are looking into the Trump organization.
The unshakable feeling that he had the small side of the stick in a relationship where he would never stop spending has not failed to wait. Last year, Cohen told me in an interview that he was going to take a ball for the president. But the past year has presented a cruel lesson on the limits of Trump's loyalty and how the justice system can protect the president from liability. At one point, Cohen may have thought that he would be protected by a friend at the Oval Office. Now, it's a man on an island, who does not know how long he could do, or if the investigators will find what he knows is useful enough to make a deal or recommend a lighter sentence. He thinks he has already taken a ball for the president. The question now is how bad the wound can be.
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