Michael Cohen’s wife and children have been doxxed in the days since Donald Trump’s conviction, with their phone numbers and home addresses leaked online.
On Monday, just days after the former president’s contentious hush money trial ended with him being found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records, personal information for Cohen’s family members wound up on a site “known for doxxing”, Daniel J Jones, the president of nonprofit research group Advance Democracy, told NBC News.
“Our researchers are regularly scanning for potential threats and instigations of political violence,” Jones said.
He added that the person who posted the personal information “likely had an intent to harm Cohen – providing these personal details on the Cohen family in the context of calling Cohen a ‘lying bastard’ and identifying him as someone who ‘betrayed Trump,’ presumably for testifying for the prosecution in former President Trump’s NY criminal trial.”
Cohen, Trump’s former “fixer” and attorney turned sworn enemy, told The Independent in a statement: “What sad times we are living through when people resort to this type of doxxing stupidity to redress their grievances.”
On MSNBC’s The ReidOut on Monday, Cohen also addressed the doxxing. “We have been receiving unwanted phone calls and emails and text messages…simply because I testified, he said. “MAGA is unhappy with the results.”
Leading up to the trial, Cohen – who was the star witness for the prosecution – frequently spoke out about the threats that he and his family had faced from “Trump-supporting haters.”
His former legal advisor and friend, Lanny Davis, told The Independent last month that Cohen’s “family and Michael are still under risk because of Mr Trump’s hateful attacks and what he does on social media.”
Cohen is “a wounded human being who fears for his family,” Mr Davis said at the time.
During the historic trial, Cohen’s testimony was pivotal for Manhattan prosecutors as he directly linked the former president to the series of fraudulent business records at the heart of the case.
Cohen paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 on behalf of Trump in exchange for her silence in the lead-up to the 2016 election about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. Cohen was later reimbursed for the payment — reimbursements that were fraudulently logged as legal expenses.
Trump has repeatedly denied the tryst with Daniels — which would have taken place a few months after Melania gave birth to his son Barron — and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
But, last Thursday, a jury found Trump guilty of all charges, marking the first time a former president has ever been convicted of a crime.
Trump has since insisted that the trial was “rigged” and maintains that he is a “very innocent man.” Still, he faces potential prison time.
In an interview with Fox News over the weekend, the former president seemed to suggest that violence could erupt if he is put behind bars.
“I think it would be tough for the public to take, you know, at a certain point, there’s a breaking point,” Trump said about potentially being incarcerated.
