Michael Cohen says Donald Trump’s character and growing debts make him dangerous whether he’s in the White House or behind bars.
“We need to be very careful about him as a potential president, because he’s for sale. He needs to figure out where he’s going to raise 500 plus million dollars over a short period of time,” Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, said on MSNBC Sunday.
A judge ruled last week that Trump owes more than $350 million in damages over his yearslong fraudulent business dealings in New York. In a separate case, he was ordered to pay writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million after a New York jury found him liable for defaming her a second time. Trump also has to pay his various lawyers millions of dollars and still faces four criminal trials.
Cohen suggested that a cash-strapped Trump could sell sensitive government information that he was privy to before and after his presidency.
“One of the biggest fears I have about having Donald Trump behind bars is that he would sell this information for a bag of tuna or a book of stamps,” Cohen said.
“He doesn’t care about America,” he continued. “And I say this not to be hyperbolic. I say this as fact, knowing him for as long as I’ve known him. He will sell that information to anyone, because he doesn’t care about anyone or anything other than himself. Plain and simple.”
Cohen is far from the first to suggest Trump’s legal debts could have national security implications. Trump’s onetime national security advisor, John Bolton, for example, said Sunday that foreign autocrats could take advantage of Trump’s worsening financial situation, demonstrating “why Trump really is not fit for office.”
Watch Cohen’s commentary below: