Donald Trump’s former longtime personal lawyer and “fixer,” Michael Cohen, believes that the former president is employing business tactics identical to those he employed before his presidential campaign.
Cohen had a falling out with Trump shortly after the 2016 election, spoke on the myriad of money-making initiatives the former president and his family have started since leaving the White House, such as speaking engagements and merchandising.
“They would sell ice to an Eskimo signed by Trump if they could,” Cohen stated.
Trump’s current business practices, according to Cohen, are similar to his pre-presidency enterprises, such as the defunct Trump University. Cohen was sentenced to three years in jail for charges including campaign finance violations.
After students sued for program deception, Trump University, a real estate investing school conducted by Trump, was discontinued. Trump agreed to a $25 million settlement. He also landed a number of branding deals, which Cohen assisted with.
“A of this was presented to him and accepted because they flashed some cash in front of his face,” said Cohen of Trump’s most current efforts.
According to the Post, Trump made millions of dollars on a recent speaking tour and has also donated his brand and signature to other advisers’ direct-to-consumer solicitations. Melania Trump, his wife, and the former first lady have lately auctioned several items online with payment in cryptocurrencies.
After attributing his 2020 loss to unfounded charges of voter fraud, Trump has publicly considered running for president again in 2024. He still has a sizable following and strong GOP support, and he has resumed hosting rallies, including one this month in Arizona.
“Unprecedented demand for President Trump, his thoughts, and his products continues to grow, unlike anything politics has ever seen,” adding, “That demand will only expand further,” a spokesperson for Trump told the Post.
Cohen recently made headlines when he revealed that Donald Trump urged him in 2012 that during a Manhattan district attorney investigation into property sales fraud, he should make sure Don Trump Jr. took the fall instead of Ivanka Trump.
Cohen told MSNBC on Saturday that Trump gave him the order as his children were about to be indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in 2012.
“You may recall that there was the district attorney’s case here for Trump Soho where it was either Don or Ivanka was in very big trouble as a result of lying about the number of units that had been sold,” Cohen told MSNBC’s Alex Witt.
“And Donald said it to me – I mean I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t said directly to me – he goes ‘if one or the other has to go to prison, make sure that it’s Don because Don would be able to handle it.’”
