Donald Trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen predicted on Saturday that three co-defendants would flip on the former president in his 2020 election interference case in Georgia.
Trump surrendered to Fulton County, Georgia, authorities on Thursday after a grand jury indicted him and 18 co-defendants on charges that included the violation of the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) laws in connection to District Attorney Fani Willis's two-and-a-half-year probe.
The investigation focused on Trump's call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which Trump allegedly asked him to find enough votes to tilt the 2020 presidential election in his favor, as well as an alleged plot to submit a false slate of pro-Trump electors to the Electoral College from Georgia, a state Trump narrowly lost to Joe Biden. The former president has maintained his innocence in the case, saying that he did nothing wrong and that Willis has investigated him for political purposes as he runs for president again in 2024.
Cohen, who for years served a Trump's personal lawyer before turning on him, predicted which of Trump's co-defendants could cooperate with prosecutors in the case, ultimately flipping on the former president, during a Saturday appearance on MSNBC.
Several high-profile members of Trump's legal political team were also indicted in the case, including Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, John Eastman, Mark Meadows, Kenneth Chesebro, Jeffrey Clark, Jenna Ellis and others.
Many of these individuals are accused of promoting Trump's unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud or being involved in the false elector scheme, which would have subverted the will of Georgia voters, who backed Biden by fewer than 12,000 votes.
Cohen predicted that prosecutors will get co-defendants such as Trump's ex-chief of staff Meadows, Eastman or Giuliani to turn, noting that those three could end up in a similar situation to himself. Cohen previously served prison time for charges of campaign finance violations, tax evasion and lying to Congress in connection to alleged hush money payments made by Trump's 2016 campaign.
"Donald doesn't care about you. He doesn't care about you one bit. He will use you as the scapegoat and the system will use you as the scapegoat in order to get somebody," he said.
Cohen added that these three flipping would be "destruction for the rest" of the co-defendants in the case.
Several defendants are facing mounting bills in the case as well, but Trump has not foot the bill for these expenses, a move that has been perceived as risky as it could alienate his co-defendants or lead them to cooperate with Fulton County prosecutors.
Ellis, who worked as Trump's attorney around the 2020 election, questioned in a post to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, why Trump's team is not funding his co-defendants' legal fees.
"I was reliably informed Trump isn't funding any of us who are indicted. Would this change if he becomes the nominee? Why then, not now? I totally agree this has become a bigger principle than just one man. So why isn't MAGA, Inc. funding everyone's defense?" she asked earlier this month.
Meanwhile, legal experts have speculated that Meadows may be someone who could flip on Trump, who is reportedly suspicious of his ex-chief of staff.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign for comment via email.
