Michael Cohen, former President Trump’s ex-lawyer, said he thinks Trump will turn on his family following news that the New York attorney general is investigating the Trump Organization in a “criminal capacity” as well as a “civil capacity.”
“I think Donald Trump is going to flip on all of them. What do you think about that? Including his children,” Cohen told host Joy Reid on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut.”
Cohen said that the “problem” with Trump is that “it’s never ever Donald Trump. It’s always somebody else.”
“He’s gonna say Don Jr. handled that, Ivanka handled that, Melania, don’t take me, take Melania, he’s going to tell them to take everyone except for himself. That’s just the kind of guy he is,” Cohen added.
“Even Ivanka?” Reid asked, referring to Trump’s elder daughter.
“Everyone, Ivanka too,” Cohen responded.
Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s adult sons, are both executive vice presidents at the Trump Organization. Ivanka Trump at one point held the same title but left the company in 2017 to join her father at the White House.
Cohen said that each child was designated to projects on specific properties.
Cohen’s comments come after the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) revealed on Tuesday that its investigation looking at the Trump Organization has expanded to include a criminal capacity.
On Wednesday night, CNN reported that James’s office has for months been investigating the personal taxes of Allen Weisselberg, a longtime executive at the Trump Organization who now serves as chief financial officer.
Cohen said that Weisselberg, who has reportedly overseen the Trump Organization’s finances for 40 years, knows “every single penny in, and every single penny out.”
“Allen Weisselberg knew every single dollar in, and every single dollar — not even dollar, to the penny. Every single penny in and every penny out went through Allen Weisselberg’s desk, and then reported, before and after, to Donald J. Trump,” Cohen said.
The combination of these investigations, along with the Manhattan district attorney’s probe into the Trump Organization, has increased pressure on Trump, his family and his organization.
Cohen, who was sentenced to three years in prison for crimes he pleaded guilty to related to his work for Trump, has taken to mocking the former president and his allies on social media amid escalating legal battles.
On Tuesday, he posted a photoshopped image of Trump in a jail cell, writing, “As more documents are reviewed by the #NYAG and #NYDA, it appears that the troubles for Donald #Trump will keep on coming!”
Last month, after news broke that federal prosecutors had executed a search warrant at the apartment and law office of Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s former personal lawyer, Cohen wrote on Twitter, “Here we go folks!!!”