Donald Trump’s former attorney has said his loyalty is to his family and his country, raising the possibility that he may co-operate with prosecutors investigating the president’s campaign.
In his first significant interview since the FBI raided his home, hotel and office in April, Michael Cohen told ABC News that he would choose his family over Mr Trump if forced to by prosecutors.
“My wife, my daughter and my son have my first loyalty and always will,” he said. “I put family and country first.”
Mr Cohen's comments come as a court review of thousands of documents seized during the raids by federal prosecutors in Manhattan draws to a close. His business dealings and payments made during the 2016 election are under investigation by the US attorney's office for the southern district of New York.
The former lawyer for Mr Trump worked at the Trump Organization for a decade and was involved in the controversies surrounding the president and his links with Russia, including the proposed Trump Tower project in Moscow.
He also made a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who is suing the president, shortly before the 2016 election in return for her silence about an affair she claims to have had with Mr Trump. The White House has denied the affair.
Mr Cohen has previously said he would “take a bullet” for Mr Trump, but in the ABC News interview he did not give the same assurances. “I will not be a punching bag as part of anyone’s defence strategy,” he said. “I am not a villain of this story, and I will not allow others to try to depict me that way.”
Praise for FBI
He also sharply diverged from the president’s rhetoric, praising the FBI and agreeing with the intelligence community’s assessment of Russia’s involvement in the last presidential election.
Mr Cohen said he did not like the president’s description of the Russia investigation being a “witch hunt” and vowed that he would fully co-operate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into alleged Russian election meddling.
“As an American, I repudiate Russia’s or any other foreign government’s attempt to interfere or meddle in our democratic process, and I would call on all Americans to do the same,” he said.
The interview will raise questions about whether Mr Cohen will co-operate with prosecutors against Mr Trump, who has both distanced himself from his former attorney and praised him as a “fine person with a wonderful family”.
In April Mr Trump said on Twitter that “most people will flip if the government lets them out of trouble, even if it means lying or making up stories”.
“Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that,” he added.
– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2018