Michael Cohen says family and country, not President Trump, is his 'first loyalty'

[demmiblue]

Source: ABC News

Michael Cohen -- President Donald Trump’s longtime personal attorney and a former executive vice president at the Trump Organization -- has always insisted he would remain loyal to the president.

He was the fix-it guy, the pit bull so fiercely protective of his boss that he’d once described himself as "the guy who would take a bullet" for the president.

But in his first in-depth interview since the FBI raided his office and homes in April, Cohen strongly signaled his willingness to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York -- even if that puts President Trump in jeopardy.

“My wife, my daughter and my son have my first loyalty and always will,” Cohen told me. “I put family and country first.”

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/michael-cohen-family-country-president-trump-loyalty/story?id=56304585&cid=social_twitter_abcn

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Link to tweet

[Vinca]

1. Then sing, Michael, sing. Keep your behind out of jail. For your family.

[DownriverDem]

21. Hurry up Michael

Before trump does something to stop the investigation. One of the current Supreme Court nominee candidates is no record of saying that the president is above the law and not to be investigated. OMG. Left leaning purists should be very happy. No? Thanks fools for being one of the reasons we have trump.

[Snellius]

29. Keep quiet! But keep an eye over your shoulder. Let him dangle until you can tell it to the judge.

He's a lawyer. He knows that going public, spilling to the press, would only compromise whatever beans he has to spill. Like in Crime and Punishment, sometimes better to let the suspect squirm for a while until they incriminate themselves. Just hope Cohen doesn't get Putinized before he can talk.

[djacq]

2. Cohen and Pancakes.... They both flip

[mobeau69]

3. Tes!

[orangecrush]

4. ...

[blueinredohio]

5. I hope he can also implicate Pence, McConnell and Ryan.

[Snotcicles]

14. +1.nt

[NCjack]

15. ... and Deven Nunes, Jeff Sessions, Niel Gorsuch, et al.

[RestoreAmerica2020]

6. Sure...unless trumpf and oligards come up with millions, a plane ticket

...out of the country.

[czarjak]

7. Says who?

Too late to play the patriotism card, Dumbass.

[janterry]

8. Don't tell us, tell Mueller

Otherwise, just shut up

[Raven123]

9. Which country would that be?

[rainin]

17. Good one. I was wondering that myself.

[RVN VET71]

37. Is there a even a shithole country that would take him?

[marble falls]

10. We have to remember: he's a lawyer - which wife and kids, which country and does putting ...

them all first mean he's put cheetolini under country or family?

[Mr. Ected]

11. God knows what crimes those million pieces of evidence disclose

Many in tandem with the Dicktator, some (perhaps) solo jobs. Who knows? Squealing on Trump may mitigate his sentence, but something tells me the mob ties have led Cohen down a very perilous path. He's going down, no matter what.

[safeinOhio]

12. I'll buy what he is saying,

as soon as he stops challenging evidence from the search warrants.

[Snotcicles]

13. When it's time settle up, it's funny how consequences tend to alter your perspective. nt

[PearliePoo2]

16. It's hard to believe anything this thug says.

He's a "bad" guy in the true sense of the word. His job was to ruin people's lives on behalf of DJT and he committed crimes while doing it.

He's a criminal, a mobster and a first class, lying asshole.

I hope he's forever fucked no matter what he does.

[Rorey]

24. Yes, we shouldn't forget that he's not a good guy

Doing the right thing (if that happens) after all he has done wrong, doesn't dismiss that he's evil. If he only is growing a conscience to save his own ass, it doesn't make him a good person. It just makes him a coward.

Still, I hope he's singing.

[olegramps]

42. He, like so many of Trumps cadre, look and act like mafia gangsters.

They all have the same sneer and swagger. It appears to me that they seemed to exhibit the same distain for authority that the mobsters had when they had the fix in and the crooked authorities bought off. Trump is really just a low class con man with a family that would provide a ready made cast for a crime series staring Trump as Capone. It would be comical except for the danger they can be in a fragile world as they strive to imitate the Godfather. These pathetic wise guys and their molls imitators phony patriotism is like something out of the Soprano series.

[rainin]

18. Why is he giving an interview, other than signaling to trumpf?

This has to be a message to trump because public interviews are a really bad idea for someone in his position.

[cubbies01]

20. Yep

I see this as nothing more than giant bat signal to Trump that he better find a way save him now.

[LiberalBrooke]

33. Oh yes.

Any attorney would tell him to be quiet and not give an interview. This is a clear signal to don the con to rescue him.

[bucolic_frolic]

19. Family and country above Trump?

walking deathbed conversion. how slammer the grim reaper motivates

[BumRushDaShow]

22. "Family and country above Trump?"

No soup for you!!

[NewJeffCT]

23. I think it's a not so subtle hint to Trump

"Pardon me, or I'll make good on family & country before Trump"

If he was going to flip, he'd talk to Mueller's team and not announce his priorities on national TV.

[riverwalker]

25. I think he's being used as bait.

To see who tries to contact him with offers of pardons or cash. Everyone knows he’s at Loews Regency, people coming and going.

[Liberty Belle]

40. Now that makes sense.

While talking to the press could be a signal for Trump to pardon, it also puts him at risk of a hit from Putin. I suspect your interpretation is correct.

[Javaman]

26. that's what he's saying now that his nuts are in a vice.

he was singing a different tune a year ago.

just spill the beans and go away.

[denbot]

27. Boom goes the dynamite!

I am also sure he and every thing he will be near will be wired up to catch the hush offer..

[Honeycombe8]

28. Country first? Give me a break.

He's a Russian-affiliated mobster who has apparently spent his life in criminal activity for personal gain, no matter the consequences.

I wonder if he paid all the taxes that were due on the millions he made? I'm betting not. That type of person is a "taxes are for the little people" arrogant kind of person.

I hope he sings like boid!

[SWBTATTReg]

30. Kind of hard to believe the nonsense this guy is spewing out now, country and family is ...

number 1 in his book, yada, yada, yada.

Bullshit.

If country and family was first in his book, then why did he take on rump as a client?

Traitor.

[Nitram]

31. Cohen is just signaling to Trump that he better make an offer quick, or Cohen will

spill the beans.

[zentrum]

32. Baloney. We're being

…played. This is how you frame the coming story, which will be full of omissions.

"I'm a good patriot—so when, in fact, I have nothing to reveal about Trump that's illegal—you can believe me.Go USA!"

He's got too much money and his own illegality tied up in this situation to come clean. He'd rather go to jail for a few years, as a patriotic martyr, than give up the millions he has hidden (or will receive) in some off-shore shell company or secret bank account.

[enid602]

34. downscale

Didn't tRump ever pay this guy? Those digs (carpet, couch, chairs, entertainment center) are pretty tacky.

[Justice]

35. its the hotel room

[enid602]

36. motel

Looks more like a roach motel or SRO.

[hamsterjill]

38. I'll happily believe it when I see it.

Wife, daughter and son? Bullshit. No one can work for Trump and give a damn about a wife, daughter and son. Michael worries about Michael and what is best for Michael.

[Liberty Belle]

39. Flippety doo dah!

I hope he has bodyguards; a lot of people won't wan't him telling all to Mueller.

[Bayard]

41. I hope he carries a radioactivity detector

Think he'll drag this out till after the mid-terms?