Michael Cohen, a former lawyer for Donald Trump, said his ex-client criticizes those involved in his prosecutions because he wants his supporters “to attack” them.
Trump continued his attacks on Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the former president’s criminal trial in Manhattan, which is set to begin on April 15. District Attorney Alvin Bragg alleges Trump falsified business records to conceal hush money payments to cover up extramarital affairs. The ex-president has pleaded not guilty and has repeatedly attacked Merchan and his daughter, doing so by name on Thursday.
On Friday’s installment of The ReidOut on MSNBC, Joy Reid welcomed Cohen to the show and played a montage of Trump complaining about judges and prosecutors:
I have been treated very unfairly by this judge. Now, this judge is of Mexican heritage. I’m building a wall, ok?…
The Trump-hating prosecutor in the case, his wife, and family despise me much more than he does. And he decides, I think he’s about a 10. They’re about a 15 on a scale of 10…
Then you have deranged Jack Smith, who’s a Trump hater and represents all the Trump haters…
You have a radical left attorney general like Letitia James, who’s a disgrace to our country…
The judges on these cases, they’re all Trump haters.
“Michael, what’s his goal when he does that?” Reid asked Cohen. He replied:
His goal is to fuel up his supporters… to fuel up his [supporters] for the sole purpose of getting them to act no differently and as stupidly as they did on January 6th. His goal is to get them to attack these individuals, these critics of him as often and as frequently as they possibly can, whether it’s going to be on social media, whether it’ll be through phone calls, whether it will be in person. I mean, that’s his goal. Intimidation and witness– it’s witness intimidation and it’s harassment.
Trump is under criminal indictment in four jurisdictions. He is also appealing a $454 million civil fraud judgment against him, and also an $83.3 million defamation judgment.
Watch above via MSNBC.
