Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday took to social media to try to use Michael Cohen's own past statements against him, as his former lawyer took the stand in Trump's New York civil fraud trial.
New York Attorney General Letitia James has sued Trump and his family for $250 million, accusing him of frequently inflating his own net worth and the value of his assets by billions of dollars from 2011 to 2021 to secure better deals and loans. Trump has dismissed the accusations and maintained his innocence, accusing prosecutors of being politically motivated and attempting to harm his 2024 presidential campaign.
New York City Judge Arthur Engoron ruled last month that Trump, his adult sons, their businesses and executives committed fraud. Moving forward, the court will rule on six other accusations, including falsifying business records, insurance fraud and conspiracy claims. Engoron himself will rule on the charges, as Trump's legal team did not opt for a jury trial. The result could see Trump lose some of his famous properties and be barred from doing business in New York.
As Cohen took the stand in New York City on Tuesday, Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to share a pair of quotes from Cohen, featured by The Huffington Post in 2011, discussing Trump's financial worth, and in The New York Times in 2016, discussing Cohen's admiration for Trump. In the former, Cohen is quoted as saying that his then-client was worth "a lot [more] ... substantially more than what's recorded in Forbes."
"They don't take into account the value of the Trump brand, of the mark, one of the most valuable marks that's ever been created," Cohen said. "He has very little debt, triple-A assets."
In the Times interview, Cohen said: "Mr. Trump is more than just a boss to those of us who have been fortunate enough to be close to him, both professionally and personally. He's more like a patriarch, a mentor. These qualities make him very endearing to me, which is why I am so fiercely loyal to him and committed to protecting him at all costs."
Newsweek reached out to representatives for Cohen via email on Tuesday.
Trump's posts sharing Cohen's old quote seemed intended to conflict with any testimony the lawyer might present against him. Cohen has, however, has acknowledged frequently over the past few years that he lied on Trump's behalf. On the stand Tuesday, he claimed to have helped manipulate financial statements to make Trump's net worth appear as whatever figure Trump wanted, CNN reported.
"I was tasked by Mr. Trump to increase the total assets based upon a number that he arbitrarily elected and my responsibility along with Allen Weisselberg predominantly was to reverse engineer the various different assets classes, increase those assets in order to achieve the number that Mr. Trump had tasked us," he explained.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
fairness meter
To Rate This Article
About the writer
Thomas Kika is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in upstate New York. His focus is reporting on crime and national politics. In the past, he has also focused on things like business, technology, and popular culture. Thomas joined Newsweek in 2021 and previously worked at the International Business Times. He is a graduate of the University at Albany. You can get in touch with Thomas by emailing t.kika@newsweek.com. Languages: English.
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
Newsletter
