Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen — who testified against the ex-president in the fraud trial that ended Friday with a stiff $355 million fine — said that even if Trump sold all his New York real estate assets, he’d never be able to come up with that kind of money.
“Where does he come up with $355 million?” Cohen said in an interview with MSNBC’s Alicia Menendez after the decision. “This is a staggering amount of money for virtually anybody. There’s maybe a handful of people in the country who can write a check for half a billion dollars. Donald is not one of them.”
Cohen said that the three-year business ban is also “a big problem” for Trump, adding, “I don’t think it’s possible, at least not within New York state assets,” for Trump to liquidate enough of them to put the Trump Organization back in the black.
“So, to underscore your statement, he’s stuck,” said Menendez.
“That’s a great way to describe it, and I’m going to use your language: He’s stuck,” Cohen replied.
Cohen proudly cited Judge Arthur Engoron’s statement in his decision that Cohen “told the truth” during his testimony.
“His testimony was significantly compromised by his having pleaded guilty to perjury … Although the animosity between the witness and the defendant is palpable, providing Cohen with an incentive to lie, the Court found his testimony credible,” the judge wrote in his 92-page decision.
“This factfinder does not believe that pleading guilty to perjury means that you can never tell the truth. Michael Cohen told the truth,” Engoron concluded.
“I think the ruling was just and fair,” Cohen said, later adding that he thought the amount “would have and should have been higher.”
