Michael Cohen Reacts to Trump's Indictment: 'It's a Lot of Counts'

Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's former personal attorney and one of the key witnesses in the Manhattan grand jury's indictment of the former president, told CNN on Thursday that the number of counts against Trump "goes well past" the hush money payment scheme.

Trump was indicted Thursday following years of investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office into his alleged connection to hush money payments made to adult- film star Stormy Daniels in 2016. Cohen was sentenced to prison in 2018 after admitting to breaking campaign finance laws in connection to the payments to Daniels, and has testified that Trump reimbursed him for the $130,000 payout.

The list of charges against Trump has yet to be announced, but CNN reported that two people familiar with the indictment said that the former president is facing more than 30 counts related to business fraud. The New York Times also reported that sources close to the case said that Trump is facing over two dozen counts.

Cohen told CNN's Alisyn Camerota and Don Lemon on Thursday that while he can't discuss specifics of the case against Trump, the total counts against him equate to "a pretty significant number."

"It certainly goes well past the Stormy Daniels hush money payments," he added.

Camerota asked Cohen if the significant number of charges could be due to Cohen receiving "multiple payments" from Trump to compensate Daniels, but he again says he "can't go into any of the specifics of this case."

"One of the things that I continued to say is that at the end of the day, there is a presumption of innocence," Cohen added. "And we do have to respect the due process clause. And this case will ultimately be known to all of us. We will have the entire set of documents."

Cohen was also asked if he could confirm that Trump was facing a total of 34 counts, a figure mentioned in some reports and on social media. However, a final tally of charges against Trump has yet to be confirmed.

"I believe that the documents speak for themselves, and I do believe that we're all kind of jumping the gun ... we don't even really know what these 34 counts are," Cohen said later in the interview. "It's a lot of counts, no matter how you want to slice it. Thirty-four is a lot of counts. So let's see what these charges are, and then we can all come back and we can all sit down and try to figure out more information."

Newsweek has emailed Liz Harrington, Trump's communications director, for comment.

Trump and Cohen have periodically traded barbs in recent weeks leading up to the indictment. A day after Cohen testified before the Manhattan grand jury this month, Trump took to Truth Social, calling him "SleazeBag disbarred lawyer Michael Cohen." The former president had been invited to testify before the jury but declined.

Earlier this month, Cohen said that indicting Trump was necessary because he "needs to be held accountable for his dirty deeds if in fact that's the way that the facts play out."

"Plain and simple, this is not about him, this is about holding accountability, truth to power and everything else in between," Cohen added.

Trump called the indictment a form of "weaponization" in a statement on Thursday, and continues to maintain that he is innocent.