Former president Donald Trump’s former friend, attorney and fixer believes his former boss will be indicted in a matter of months.
Michael Cohen made the bold prediction in a recent interview with the New York Daily News.
“Now that you see the New York District Attorney and the Attorney General’s offices working in concert, I do believe that indictments will be issued shortly, and definitely before summer’s end,” Cohen said.
The Trump stalwart-turned-enemy, who famously served federal prison time for bank fraud, tax fraud, and the Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal hush-money payments he made “in coordination with and at the direction of Individual-1,” said he could not elaborate on his prediction when asked for additional comment by Law&Crime.
“As more documents are reviewed by the #NYAG and #NYDA, it appears that the troubles for Donald #Trump will keep on coming!” he tweeted late Tuesday night in a hindsight preview. “Soon enough, Donald and Associates will be held responsible for their actions.”
Appended to the tweet was a photoshopped image of Trump cowering behind the bars of a jail or prison cell.
As more documents are reviewed by the #NYAG and #NYDA, it appears that the troubles for Donald #Trump will keep on coming! Soon enough, Donald and Associates will be held responsible for their actions. pic.twitter.com/nOvd7Dry81
— Michael Cohen (@MichaelCohen212) May 19, 2021
Cohen’s comments come on the heels of the late Tuesday revelation that New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) has shifted her office’s long-running civil investigation into the Trump Organization into a criminal investigation.
“We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the organization is no longer purely civil in nature,” spokesperson Fabien Levy told Law&Crime. “We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan D.A. We have no additional comment at this time.”
James campaigned on investigating Trump and his family in 2018 and said that she intended to follow through on those campaign promises immediately after she was elected.
“We will use every area of the law to investigate President Trump and his business transactions and that of his family as well,” James told NBC News in December 2018. “We want to investigate anyone in his orbit who has, in fact, violated the law.”
An investigation into the Trump Organization quickly became one of her office’s major points of focus and has been underway as a civil matter–meaning punishable by fines–since early 2019. The same year, Trump personally admitted misusing Trump Foundation funds to benefit his 2016 campaign. That admission was part of a settlement of a lawsuit brought by AG James. The settlement also included “mandatory training requirements” for the former president’s eldest three children. The AG said the “compulsory training” on the duties of charity directors or officers was meant to “ensure this type of illegal activity never takes place again.”
James announced that her civil probe had ramped up substantially in late August 2020. In a series of court filings, the Empire State’s attorney general moved to force the release of various financial documents which authorities believe may have been used to commit various forms of fraud.
“This application seeks to compel Respondents—the Trump Organization, Inc.; DJT Holdings LLC; DJT Holdings Managing Member LLC; Seven Springs LLC; Eric Trump; Charles Martabano; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP; and Sheri Dillon—to produce documents and provide testimony responsive to lawful subpoenas issued by the New York State Office of the Attorney General (OAG) as part of OAG’s ongoing confidential civil investigation into potential fraud or illegality,” a memorandum of law begins.
At the top of James’s list, however, is Trump Organization Executive Vice President Eric Trump.
That inquiry runs somewhat parallel to a similarly-focused effort by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance. But whereas James’s inquiry only recently shifted, Vance’s investigation has always been criminal in nature.
Cohen has been providing information to Vance’s investigation since February 2019 when he was still serving time in federal prison. Since then, he’s provided additional details in several in-person interviews.
The former fixer’s prediction appears to be premised on the fact that both the NYAG and Manhattan DA’s offices are now working together on the criminal investigation.
“In the collaboration, two assistant attorneys general from Ms. James’s office are joining the district attorney’s team, people with knowledge of the matter said,” according to The New York Times.
[image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images]
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