October 20, 2018

Trump’s Former Lawyer Is Now Trying to Get Out the Vote For Democrats

Michael Cohen’s pitch: Vote or you’ll have years more “of this craziness.”

Go Nakamura/ZUMA

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In one of the stranger twists of the midterm cycle, President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, who once said he’d “take a bullet” for Trump, is now trying to get out the vote for Democrats. 

“Listen, here’s my recommendation,” Cohen told CNN outside his home on Friday. “Grab your family, grab your friends, grab your neighbors, and get to the poll, because if not, you are going to have another two or another six years of this craziness. So, make sure you vote. All right?”

It’s been a while since we’ve heard directly from Cohen. He pled guilty in August to eight federal charges of tax and bank fraud, as well as violating campaign finance law, and has since cooperated with prosecutors investigating Trump’s family businesses and presidential campaign. CNN also reported that Cohen met with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office and the New York State attorney general’s office in recent weeks. 

A longtime fixer and personal attorney for Trump, Cohen’s relationship with the president has soured considerably as Mueller’s probe has advanced. Cohen has testified that Trump ordered him to funnel 2016 campaign payments to silence women alleging affairs with Trump.

Trump kept up his end of the feud in an interview with the Associated Press earlier this week, accusing Cohen of “lying,” downplaying the work he has done as just “a PR person who did small legal work.” 

Until he resigned in June 2018, Cohen was the deputy finance chairman for the Republican National Committee. Now, according to his lawyer, Cohen is changing his registration back to the Democratic Party.

There is no sign that Democratic leadership have wanted or needed any help from the new recruit, but Elle might appreciate his efforts. 

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

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