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  • One of Donald Trump’s loyal defenders

  • “I will do anything to protect Mr. Trump.”

  • flipped.

  • “I am ashamed

  • because I know what Mr. Trump is.

  • He is a racist.

  • He is a con man.

  • And he is a cheat.”

  • President Trump’s former personal lawyer,

  • Michael Cohen, has become a central figure

  • in investigations related to the 2016 election.

  • So how did this happen?

  • Cohen began working for the Trump Organization in 2007.

  • His job: to make problems go away.

  • Part fixer.

  • They say I’m Mr. Trump’s pitbull. His right hand man.”

  • Part lawyer.

  • Two of those problems?

  • Trump’s alleged affairs with Stormy Daniels

  • and Karen McDougal.

  • Cohen says Trump directed him to arrange payments

  • to keep them quiet.

  • Cohen: “When it comes time for the financing,

  • which will be —” [Unclear]

  • Trump: “What financing?”

  • Cohen: “Well, I have to pay … [Unclear]

  • No no, no, no. I got

  • no, no no.”

  • This deal,

  • among other things, caught the attention

  • of Special Counsel Robert Mueller

  • and in April of 2018 —

  • The New York Times —”

  • “— just reported that the F.B.I. —”

  • “— raided the home and office of —“

  • Donald Trump’s longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen.”

  • At the time, Trump stood by him.

  • Good man. It’s a total witch hunt.”

  • But things changed after Cohen agreed

  • to cooperate with Mueller’s investigators.

  • Mr. Cohen will continue to cooperate.”

  • “ —because he’s a weak person,

  • and not a very smart person.”

  • Both men say the other is lying.

  • The man doesn’t tell the truth.”

  • He’s lying,

  • very simply, to get a reduced sentence.”

  • In 2018,

  • Cohen faced multiple charges in two different cases.

  • Federal prosecutors in New York

  • charged him with campaign finance violations

  • for the hush money payments.

  • They also found evidence of tax evasion

  • and that Cohen lied to a bank.

  • Mueller’s team then charged Cohen

  • with lying to Congress about negotiations to build

  • a Trump Tower in Moscow,

  • a project which involved President Trump

  • and extended into the 2016 election.

  • Cohen pleaded guilty on all counts.

  • So what’s next?

  • Cohen was sentenced to just over three years

  • in prison, which hell start serving in May.

  • He’s continued to cooperate with prosecutors

  • and testified before Congress.

  • “I have fixed things,

  • but I am no longer your fixer,

  • Mr. Trump.”

  • Michael Cohen!”

One of Donald Trump’s loyal defenders

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