Michael Cohen book accuses Trump of corruption, fraud

President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen’s book accused the president of corruption and fraud, according to an excerpt released Thursday.

In the book entitled “Disloyal, A Memoir,” Cohen made several accusations, including that the president “cheated” in the 2016 election with the help of Russia. 

Cohen, Trump’s former fixer, wrote that Trump attempted to get close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and “his coterie of corrupt billionaire oligarchs.”

“Trump had colluded with the Russians, but not in the sophisticated ways imagined by his detractors. I also knew that the Mueller investigation was not a witch-hunt,” Cohen wrote.  

“Trump had cheated in the election, with Russian connivance, as you will discover in these pages, because doing anything — and I mean anything — to ‘win’ has always been his business model and way of life,” he added. 

The day has finally arrived. I have waited a long time to share my truth. To read the foreword and pre-order my book DISLOYAL, visit https://t.co/Va4Rt0Zear

— Michael Cohen (@MichaelCohen212) August 13, 2020

Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential election, and he and his allies have called the Russia probe a “hoax” and a “witch hunt.” 

The investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election concluded that the country interfered through a series of social media disinformation and influence campaigns. It also did not find that the Trump campaign coordinated with the Russian government in the 2016 election. 

Trump’s former lawyer also predicted that the president “will never leave office peacefully.”

“The types of scandals that have surfaced in recent months will only continue to emerge with greater and greater levels of treachery and deceit,” the excerpt read. 

“If Trump wins another four years, these scandals will prove to only be the tip of the iceberg. I’m certain that Trump knows he will face prison time if he leaves office, the inevitable cold Karma to the notorious chants of ‘Lock Her Up!'” Cohen wrote.

The White House labeled the book as “fan fiction” in a statement.

“He readily admits to lying routinely but expects people to believe him now so that he can make money from book sales,” White House spokesperson Brian Morgenstern said in a statement. “It’s unfortunate that the media is exploiting this sad and desperate man to attack President Trump.”

The president has slammed Cohen since he cooperated in former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the campaign’s ties to Russia, calling him a fraud and a liar.

In the book, Cohen also portrays himself as a “bad guy” who helped the president, who he said acted “like a mob boss.”

“From golden showers in a sex club in Vegas, to tax fraud, to deals with corrupt officials from the former Soviet Union, to catch and kill conspiracies to silence Trump’s clandestine lovers, I wasn’t just a witness to the president’s rise—I was an active and eager participant,” he wrote.

Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for financial crimes and lying to Congress, but he was released to serve his sentence at home amid concerns about the pandemic.

Updated at 11:50 a.m.