Trump's former “fixer” Michael Cohen is making the media rounds. His new book, Disloyal, is out today.
Said Cohen to NBC News anchor Lester Holt: “In the book, obviously, I describe Mr. Trump as a cult leader, and I was in this cult. So one of the purposes of writing the book is really from one former cult member to the current ones. I've said this before, and I'll say it again: Open your eyes as I have. And I want you to appreciate that Donald Trump cares for no one or anything other than himself.”
NBC News adds: “Cohen said Trump's backers have to defend his ‘indefensible' actions, mentioning The Atlantic's report last week in which several sources with firsthand knowledge of Trump's remarks said he referred to American service members killed in combat as “losers” and ‘suckers.' Trump has repeatedly denied the accuracy of the story, as have administration officials and allies. ‘I mean, who could possibly accept this?” Cohen said of Trump's reported remarks. ‘But when you're in the Trump cult, you have no choice but to accept it.' In the interview, Cohen mentioned several instances in which Trump made remarks that Cohen considered racist, one of them when he was driving with Trump through a predominantly Black Chicago neighborhood and Trump said, ‘Only the Blacks could live this way.'”
NBC News plans to air more of the interview on Nightly News with Lester Holt on Tuesday night, and Cohen will sit down with Rachel Maddow at 9 pm ET.
Cohen also gave an interview to Rolling Stone on a variety of topics, including the president's mental health: “He's degrading and he's spiraling. Trump can't handle criticism or not being told exactly what he wants to hear. All of the drama, my book included, is making him unravel, which you see on a daily basis in his psycho tweeting. The fact that he has absolutely no self-control is a testament to where his mind is at. It's dangerous. It's dangerous to have an unstable president who can't even control his tweeting habits no matter how many times people advise him to do so. And yet, we're trusting our country and safety into this person's hands.”
And excerpts from Cohen's book are appearing all over the web: “In Disloyal: A Memoir, Trump's former personal lawyer goes into great detail on his ex-boss' racism, his self-centeredness, and his disdain for other people. In a portion of the book flagged by NBC News, Cohen admits he doesn't know if Russia has financial leverage on Trump, but he does say that Trump praised Putin during the 2016 election because he expected to lose and wanted to still be able to borrow money from Russian sources for his business empire.”
