After President Trump dumped Michael Cohen on Twitter for recording private conversations with him, Cohen has expressed a sense of resilience to close friends.
“If they think for a second that the efforts to discredit me aren’t known to me, they are sadly mistaken,” Cohen has told friends, referencing Trump and his legal team, according to Vanity Fair. “Did they think I was just going to roll over and die?”
Cohen has also confided in friends that he deeply regrets that the whole investigation might have embarrassed first lady Melania Trump and reportedly has said he’d like to apologize to her one day.
Cohen’s house, hotel and office were raided this spring. The FBI seized millions of records, including the at least 12 tapes that prosecutors now possess. At least one of the tapes is a recording of a conversation Trump had with Cohen about a payment he made to a former Playboy model.
Cohen has not been charged with a crime, but he is under criminal investigation for his financial dealings, including the hush money he gave to ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal and porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Both have alleged having affairs with Trump.
Trump tweeted over the weekend suggesting it was “perhaps illegal” for a lawyer to record a client without their permission. In private, Trump was reportedly hurt by the news of the recordings, lamenting “I can’t believe Michael would do this to me.”
Read Vanity Fair’s full report here.
