Ex-President Donald Trump’s former attorney, Lawrence native Michael Cohen, published Tuesday a new book about how Trump used investigations to silence his critics — something Cohen experienced first-hand after falling out of favor.
Revenge: How Donald Trump Weaponized the US Department of Justice Against His Critics is Cohen’s follow up to his 2020 tell-all book, Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump.
“The story you were told regarding me, my [credibility] and my plea deal is not the true story,” Cohen tweeted. “After years of lies, manipulation of the press and the weaponization of justice by Trump to silence his critics, the truth about the story you think you know is now available.”
Cohen had pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, tax fraud, and bank fraud for, among other things, paying hush money to porn stars with whom Trump allegedly had affairs. He was released early from federal prison in 2020 due to coronavirus concerns and later sued, alleging that while he was on house arrest, federal authorities sent him back to prison to keep him from speaking out against the administration. He now hosts a podcast dedicated to analyzing Trump’s latest antics.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James started scrutinizing Trump’s business practices in March 2019 after Cohen testified to Congress that Trump exaggerated his wealth on financial statements provided to Deutsche Bank while trying to obtain financing to buy the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. That probe led to the filing of a lawsuit last month against Trump in which James alleged Trump padded his net worth by billions of dollars and habitually misled banks and others about the value of prized assets.
The suit follows an FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-A-Lago estate in August during which investigators alleged they found Trump was hoarding classified documents. The search came as the U.S. House of Representatives is continuing its investigation to determine what role the Trump administration played in the January 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riots.
A district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia is also investigating whether Trump and his close associates sought to interfere in that state’s election, and Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg pleaded guilty to 15 counts of tax evasion in a deal with prosecutors that could potentially make him a star witness against the company at a trial this fall.
Revenge: How Donald Trump Weaponized the US Department of Justice Against His Critics, published by Melville House, is available for $32.50 in hardcopy or ebook for $14.99.
-With Associated Press
