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Cohen memoir casts him as 'star witness' against Trump

Posted at 9:15 AM, Sep 08, 2020
and last updated 2020-09-08 10:15:42-04

NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Cohen’s tell-all memoir makes the case that President Donald Trump is “guilty of the same crimes” that landed his former fixer in federal prison.

The new book, “Disloyal: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump,” offers a blow-by-blow account of Trump’s alleged role in a hush money scandal that once overshadowed his presidency.

Cohen writes that of all the crises he confronted working for Trump, none proved as vexing as the porn actress Stormy Daniels and her claims of an extramarital affair with Trump.

Trump, despite his later protestations, green-lighted the $130,000 payment to silence Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, reasoning he would “have to pay” his wife a far greater sum if the affair ever became known, Cohen writes, adding the president later reimbursed him with “fake legal fees.”

“It never pays to settle these things, but many, many friends have advised me to pay,” Trump said, according to Cohen. “If it comes out, I’m not sure how it would play with my supporters. But I bet they’d think it’s cool that I slept with a porn star.”

Some media outlets obtained an early copy of the book, which was released Tuesday.

The White House called the memoir “fan fiction.”