Trump’s advisers worry that The President’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, might give in, and cooperate with the federal prosecutors. After the FBI raided Cohen’s personal files, a New York City court also forced him to disclose all his clients, one of which was Sean Hannity.
Last week, during a court filing, the Southern District of New York’s acting U.S. attorney stated that the FBI raid on Cohen’s home, office and hotel room were “the result of a months-long investigation” into Trump’s attorney to collect evidence against the President.
“Who knows what Cohen has in those files,” a source close to the White House said.
Thus, many advisers of the President and many people in Trump’s private circle have lately been discussing the possibility of Cohen giving in to the federal prosecutors to save himself.
“That’s what they’ll threaten him with: life imprisonment,” stated Alan Dershowitz, who is a frequent defender of Trump and a liberal lawyer. Dershowitz met up with Trump last week at the White House. “They’re going to threaten him with a long prison term and try to turn him into a canary that sings.”
“When anybody is faced with spending a long time in jail, they start to re-evaluate their priorities, and cooperation can’t be ruled out,” said another ally of Trump who is acquainted with Cohen.
“I think for two years or four years or five years, Michael Cohen would be a stand-up guy. I think he’d tell them go piss up a rope. But depending on dollars involved, which can be a big driver, or if they look at him and say it’s not two to four years, it’s 18 to 22, then how loyal is he?” said a defense lawyer who is representing one of Trump senior aides, in the Mueller probe.
“Is he two years loyal? Is he 10 years loyal? Is he 15 years loyal?” states the attorney, while adding, “that’s the currency. It’s not measured in inches. It’s measured in years.”
On Wednesday, the former Communications Director for the White House, Anthony Scaramucci said on MSNBC that Cohen is not a possible risk for Trump. “If you said to me and I had to flip a coin, is he going to turn on President Trump or turn on other people? I would say adamantly no,” said Scaramucci.
“I’m the guy who would take a bullet for the President,” said Cohen last summer, in an interview with Vanity Fair. Earlier in this month, Cohen also tweeted earlier that he would “always protect” President Trump.
In a CNN interview last week, Cohen stated that the raid was “unsettling to say the least.” However, he also referred to the Federal agents as “extremely professional, courteous, and respectful” which is a massive change from his usual aggressive approach.
“They’re going to squeeze him like a grape. I think in the end he’ll pop unless Trump pardons him,” Paul Rosenzweig said. Rosenzweig is currently a senior fellow at the R Street Institute and had acted as a senior counsel during Kenneth Starr’s investigation into former President Bill Clinton.
A Democratic consultant based in New York, Hank Sheinkopf, who has previously worked with Trump and Cohen, said that the ties between the two are strong, and go a long way back. However, he did not fully rule out the possibility of Cohen giving into the pressure put on him by the prosecution.
“Here’s a guy who appears to be very tough, very loyal and has said publicly about how he feels about Mr. Trump. That shouldn’t change, but who knows what the future holds,” said Sheinkopf. “People change when pressure is put on them. He’s very loyal. He’s very stand-up. It’d be a difficult decision for him to make.”
Reports suggest that White House officials want to create some distance between Trump and Cohen. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, told reporters a couple of days back that Cohen and Trump have “still got some ongoing things,” yet Trump “has a large number of attorneys, as you know.”
According to John Dean who is previously acted as a White House counsel, and played a major role in the Watergate investigation that eventually led to Nixon’s resignation, said that Cohen changing sides “would be Trump’s worst nightmare”.
