Michael Cohen, the former attorney and fixer for former president Donald Trump, claims the ex-president’s son-in-law and former adviser is one of the witnesses who has given evidence about him to the prosecutors who will seek to convict and imprison him next year.
Cohen, who spent several years in prison and on home confinement after being convicted for crimes stemming from his participation in the hush-money scheme for which Mr Trump is facing trial for falsifying business records in his former home state of New York, told CNN on Wednesday that numerous figures in Mr Trump’s inner circle are likely to give evidence against him rather than engage in the stonewalling tactics that were the norm when he was in office and able to shield them from consequences.
“Jack Smith is not allowing anybody to escape. So each and every one of them knows that this is me that they’re talking about. And I think it’s necessary for me to have my attorneys reach out to Jack Smith and his team to ensure that at least I have an opportunity to provide information if they haven’t already. Like, I’m a firm believer that Rudy Giuliani has already spoken,” Cohen said.
Asked why he thought that, he replied that the ex-New York mayor “has no interest in spending his remaining days on this planet behind bars for Donald Trump”.
Cohen also noted that two prominent ex-Trump advisers — former chief of staff Mark Meadows and Jared Kushner, Mr Trump’s son-in-law — have disappeared from public view in the months since Special Counsel Jack Smith was tasked to take over investigations into Mr Trump. He suggested that the lack of any mention of either in the indictment is an indicator that both have given evidence against the former president.
“I think the more important thing in this indictment to look at are not who the six co-conspirators are, but rather who is missing from this indictment. Like, for example, you don’t see any mention of Mark Meadows. You see nothing of Jared Kushner. Jared Kushner was the secretary of everything. How is it possible that he is not listed here?” he said.
Cohen added that he believes Mr Kushner is “probably a cooperating witness” and said he sees no reason the former White House aide, who is married to Mr Trump’s daughter Ivanka, would not cooperate “in a heartbeat” because he knows the ex-president would throw him under a bus to save himself if he had to.
Mr Kushner did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment sent to two separate email addresses associated with him.
