Trump’s Ex-Attorney Michael Cohen Has a Few Hypotheses

We can all expect more—much more—from the president this week, he says

Michael Cohen arrives at his Park Avenue apartment on May 21, 2020, in New York City. Photo: JOHANNES EISELE/AFP via Getty Images

Trump’s former fixer and personal attorney is sounding the alarm again. Michael Cohen, in a Zoom chat this past weekend, echoed what many pundits and politicians are saying about the end of 45’s presidency: more violence is on the way, stoked by Trump’s ego.

Speaking with German and U.S. journalists during a session hosted by the RIAS Berlin Commission, Cohen said that Americans should brace for more acts of protest in the days leading up to the inauguration of President-elect Joseph Biden. This possibility impacts not only politicians, but also anti-racism advocates and equity workers regardless of race. Cohen — who pleaded guilty in 2018 to multiple crimes, including campaign finance violations after a special investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election — said that Trump sees himself “as a monarch, as a dictator, as an autocrat” and will not accept his loss to Biden.

Experts have long been saying that this way of thinking led to a group of White men brandishing Confederate flags and spears as they broke into the Capitol building last week.

“He has a very fragile ego,” Cohen said. “…he truly believes he won this election and that it was stolen from him.”

Cohen characterized Trump — whom he at one point called “the idiot-in-chief — as “enjoying” the chaos, and predicted that the president will continue to rile up his base in the days leading up to Inauguration Day on January 20. “He’s going to continue to blow this dog whistle, right, to gaslight these supporters each and every day… claiming the election was stolen, claiming that he is the rightful president,” he said.

True to what has previously been seen about the attempted coup, Cohen said Trump “talks in code” and will not outright encourage his supporters to come to the inauguration. Instead, Cohen believes his former client will condemn the inauguration as a “sham.”

“I do suspect there will be protest upon protest by the same groups that stormed the Capitol, and I do believe it is going to be dangerous,” he said.