Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Salon
Salon
Politics
Meaghan Ellis

Cohen says Trump kept docs in the open

Michael Cohen and Donald Trump (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

Michael Cohen, an ex-lawyer for former President Donald Trump, recently shed more light on the location of the highly sensitive documents found at Mar-a-Lago.

During a recent appearance on CNN, Cohen explained why it was so reckless for the documents to be stored where they were. Speaking to CNN anchor Poppy Harlow, Cohen said, "That place is completely open. It's directly above the catering hall."

Cohen explained how the location of the documents may have made them relatively accessible to just about anyone visiting the property.

"So it's not just guests, it's not just members; it's anybody that's there, hypothetically, for a wedding or a christening, a bar mitzvah — any event that they have. And all that separated these individuals from top-secret, classified documents were 10 stairs and one little Master Lock key," he explained.

As a former lawyer for Trump, Cohen also expressed his concerns about the former president slamming his own legal team amid his woes with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) when his Mar-a-Lago estate was searched on August 8.

Prior to the search, one of Trump's attorneys in June signed documents confirming all necessary documents had been returned.

"There's a plethora of lawyers that have all gone down or are going down or need to lawyer-up simply because they did Donald Trump's bidding," said Cohen.

Cohen's interview came shortly after a flurry of Trump rants shared via Truth Social. Over the last couple of weeks, the former president has become increasingly agitated amid the ongoing investigations and criticism surrounding the probes.

Currently, Trump is facing three highly publicized investigations: the DOJ investigation into the mishandling of top-secret government documents, the Fulton County, Ga., investigation into election tampering, and the New York Attorney General's investigative probe into the Trump Organization.

Watch below:

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.