Michael Cohen was Trump’s consummate inside man. Now, friends say he’s at risk

Since the implosion of Cohen’s relationship with his former boss, he has become a reformed ‘truth-teller’, spilling the secrets of Trumpworld. It’s a role he both relishes and reviles, Kelly Rissman reports

Tangled webs: Donald Trump (right) is on criminal trial in New York over alleged hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels (right) ahead of the 2016 election. Mr Trump’s former fixer and attorney Michael Cohen (centre) has testified in court that he made payments on Mr Trump’s behalf (AP/Reuters/Getty)

Michael Cohen was once so close to Donald Trump that he said he “would take a bullet for” him.

In the seven years since professing his unwavering loyalty, the former lawyer and “fixer” has suffered his own very public downfall and criminal conviction, and has now been recast as the star witness in the Manhattan district attorney’s hush money case against the former president.

It is a role that Cohen both relishes – as a reformed “truth-teller” who enthusiastically pulls back the curtain on the alleged murky dealings of Trumpworld – and reviles.

Before he testified in the trial, some of those close to Cohen told The Independent that he faced significant risks by taking the stand against his former boss.

“His family and Michael are still under risk because of Mr Trump’s hateful attacks and what he does on social media,” said Lanny Davis, Cohen’s friend and legal advisor, who is not involved in the hush money trial.

Cohen is “a wounded human being who fears for his family,” Mr Davis added.

The former lawyer cannot have been unaware of the profound significance of his testifying for the prosecution against Mr Trump at the first-ever criminal trial of a US president, which could yet see the defendant sentenced to a jail term at a time when he is campaigning for a return to the White House.

Michael Cohen pictured with Donald Trump at a campaign stop in Ohio ahead of the 2016 presidential election. The pair have since been reunited at Mr Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan (Reuters)

Mr Trump is accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records over payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about their alleged affair ahead of the 2016 election. Cohen, who at that point was Mr Trump’s attorney and “fixer” for a decade, said that he delivered the payments, totalling $130,000, to Ms Daniels – and did so “at the direction of” the former president.

Mr Trump has repeatedly denied the affair but admitted on Twitter in May 2018 that he had reimbursed Cohen for the sum.

In taking the stand, Cohen once more found himself face-to-face with the man he now describes as a “cheat”, “con man” – and more recently, “Von S***zInPantz.”

Since their relationship imploded in 2018, Mr Trump has verbally attacked his one-time confidante again and again. He disparaged Cohen from the White House and has continued ever since on social media, branding him a liar, sleazebag and “rat” to his nearly seven million Truth Social followers.

Mr Trump has assailed Cohen’s credibility, pointing out that his former lawyer pleaded guilty in federal court to lying to Congress about a Trump Tower project in Russia. The former president also highlighted that Cohen’s bid to reduce his court-ordered supervised release was rejected by a judge, who suggested that the disbarred lawyer had perjured himself over tax evasion claims.

Stormy Daniels, pictured in 2018. Mr Trump allegedly paid her $130,000 to keep quiet about an affair ahead of the 2016 election. Mr Trump has denied the affair (AP)

But Mr Trump’s posts about Cohen also attracted the attention of prosecutors in the hush money trial, who used the evidence to bolster accusations that the former president had violated his gag order.

Cohen declined to discuss specifics of the trial with The Independent.

But in a text message in April, he wrote that, in the face of Mr Trump’s attacks, he was feeling “stronger than I ever imagined”, adding that “the truth will prevail.” (He has since issued a self-imposed “gag” order on himself ahead of his testimony.)

But despite this show of bravado, Cohen previously confessed that he didn’t want to testify in the hush money case but was compelled to by subpoena. His decision to tell the truth has taken a toll, he claimed.

Cohen said that he had received emails, social media posts and texts from “Trump-supporting haters”.

Lanny Davis, Cohen’s former legal adviser and friend, pictured in 2018. He is not involved in the ongoing criminal case in Manhattan but told The Independent that Cohen is ‘under risk’ (AFP/Getty)

“I just got one,” he said on a March episode of Mea Culpa, the regular podcast he started in 2020. “F*** you, traitor, snitch and all-around c*** sucker.”

Cohen also brought up the disturbing messages on Political Beatdown, another podcast that he co-hosts. Earlier this month, Cohen accused Mr Trump of “blowing the dog whistle” by which he meant “igniting the MAGA, right-wing group”.

“Why does my life need to be threatened… on a daily basis?” he wondered aloud on the show.

Public property records show that Cohen still has a home in a Trump-branded building in Manhattan. In December, he acknowledged owning property in the luxury residence – despite his fractious relationship with the former president – and tweeted that he would move from the building “when I’m ready”.

A source with knowledge of the matter told The Independent that he is not currently living in that apartment.

Mr Davis speaks with Cohen after he testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill on 26 February 2019, where he unveiled information that is now being used in the hush money case (Getty)

Cohen is married to Laura Shusterman and has two adult children, Samantha and Jake. Samantha Cohen, a Penn graduate-turned-digital creator with a podcast of her own, has spoken about how their lives were upended by her father’s exile from Trumpworld.

“The level of hatred and vitriol thrown at us terrifies me,” Samantha Cohen told Vanity Fair in 2020. “I get that people are angry. I get that people hate Trump. But think about the effect that has on a person, on their family, on the people who love them.”

And it’s not just immediate family. Mr Davis, who joined the former fixer’s legal team in 2018 after meeting him through a mutual friend, is “under a security risk and threats just like everybody else who was involved with Michael Cohen,” he said.

Mr Davis, former special counsel to president Bill Clinton, emphasized just how serious the situation is for Cohen and his family but declined to discuss specific threats, fearing that to do so would exacerbate the problem.

Mr Trump at the Manhattan criminal courthouse on 26 April 2024. He has pleaded not guilty and has denied any wrongdoing in the hush money case, the first-ever criminal trial of a US president (AP)

“He decided to tell the truth after lying for Donald Trump for 10 years,” Mr Davis told The Independent. He recalled Cohen’s explosive testimony to Congress where he displayed the checks he had written to Ms Daniels, a moment that arguably lit the match that has ended up in Mr Trump’s hush money trial five years later.

Cohen himself pleaded guilty to tax evasion, lying to Congress, and campaign finance violations in August 2018 and served three years, largely in home confinement. To this day, he is on supervised release.

“He paid his price,” Mr Davis said. “Michael is fearful to this day. But he’s standing up and telling the truth.”