Trump lawyer-turned-critic Michael Cohen to apply for “anti-weaponization fund”
Republican lawmakers want clarity on Trump’s “anti-proliferation fund” 04:31
Michael Cohen, the Trump lawyer and critic who was sentenced to prison for his work for the president, told CBS News on Thursday that he plans to apply for money from the Justice Department’s new “anti-gun fund.”
“I am working on the process on my own and will submit the letter directly to the Department of Justice when it is completed,” Cohen told CBS News via text message.
controversial A $1.776 billion fund was announced earlier this week, offering financial compensation to people who claim the legal system has been “weaponized” against them. It’s part of a deal between President Trump and the Justice Department to resolve the president’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of Mr. Trump’s tax returns.
He said he filed because he believed the problems that led Mr. Trump to sue the government were “the same ones that happened to me.”
“Trump’s basis for taking the $10 billion action is the same reasons for action that affected me; it cost me my law license, my jobs, my finances, my family happiness, my business relationships, and my opportunities,” Cohen said. he said.
Cohen said he was still working on a draft of his letter asking for help. “If gun funding truly exists to support individuals destroyed through politically motivated law enforcement tactics, selective prosecutions, government leaks, abuse of power, and deliberate destruction of reputation, then perhaps there is no clearer example than what happened to me,” Cohen wrote in a portion of his draft obtained by CBS News.
NBC News was the first to report Cohen’s plan to apply for the fund.
Cohen was among Mr. Trump’s most trusted legal advisers before he became president in 2016. frequently mentioned as Mr. Trump’s personal “fixer” and once he defined himself As “the guy who took a bullet for the president.” He is now a vocal critic of Trump.
It was Cohen sentenced to three years in prison In 2018, after admitting campaign finance violations related to payments he arranged for women who claimed to have had affairs with Mr. Trump. He was also sentenced to two months in prison for lying to Congress about a Trump Tower Moscow project proposed by special counsel Robert Mueller. At his sentencing, Cohen claimed his loyalty to Mr. Trump led him to “choose the dark path over the light.”
“My weakness could be described as blind loyalty to Donald Trump, and I was weak because I did not have the strength to question and reject his demands,” Cohen said at sentencing. he said.
Cohen in 2024 testified In a criminal case filed in New York state against Mr. Trump, who was later convicted of falsifying business records related to the same payments to women at the center of Cohen’s accusations. Mr. Trump has long denied having affairs with women and any wrongdoing.
Cohen testified at the hearing that he received regular updates about the president’s efforts to cover up salacious stories about him when he ran for president in 2016 and that he personally signed off on a plan to falsify records about them.
This wouldn’t be the first time Cohen has sought solutions to what he sees as government mistreatment. Five years ago, he sued the federal government and Mr. Trump, claiming he was abruptly removed from a Covid-era home confinement program in 2020 and forced to return to prison in retaliation for his criticisms of the president. a judge rejected his caseciting previous court precedents.
Cohen is among the first known critics of Trump to signal plans to tap a “gun fund.”
The Justice Department said Monday that there are “no partisan requirements to file a lawsuit” and that decisions about who gets relief will be determined by a panel of five people appointed by the attorney general.
Most other figures who showed interest Those who have applied include Trump allies, including former Trump adviser Michael Caputo, who became the first known applicant on Tuesday when he asked for $2.7 million from the Justice Department. Some of the defendants of the January 6 rebellion there is also recommended They can apply.
There is funding criticism drawn from members of both parties and from ethics watchdogs. The progressive Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington called it “the most brazen act of self-dealing in presidential history.”
The Justice Department defended the fund, with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche comparing the fund to other settlement funds created by the government and arguing that it would address “years of gun proliferation.”
