Former Trump Lawyer Says President Told Him ‘Black People Are Too Stupid To Vote For Me’
Michael Cohen, the former personal lawyer for President Donald Trump who has been with him over the course of many years, said in a recent interview that his old boss used inappropriate and bigoted language many times while he was working for him.
Cohen made guilty pleas earlier this year in federal court related to violating federal elections law. In his plea statement, he also singled Trump out as allegedly breaking those laws as well, according to a report from the Chicago Tribune.
After making his plea arrangement, Cohen began cooperating with several investigators looking into the president, including the special counsel, federal attorneys with Southern District of New York, and state investigators looking into Trump’s business dealings. He also changed his political affiliation back to Democrat (he became a Republican when Trump ran for president), and has vowed to help Democrats win in the 2018 and 2020 elections, including ousting Trump from office, per a previous report from the Inquisitr.
In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Cohen confirmed what many people suspected: behind the scenes, Trump uses vitriolic and oftentimes bigoted language.
Cohen alleged, for example, that Trump made a comment about black voters following a rally during the 2016 campaign. Cohen noticed that the crowd was very white with very little diversity among it. He described his exchange with then-candidate Trump.
“I told Trump that the rally looked vanilla on television. Trump responded, ‘That’s because black people are too stupid to vote for me,'” Cohen said.
Michael Cohen Drops Bombshell: Trump Made Racist Comments, Said Black People ‘Too Stupid’ to Vote For Him https://t.co/rLHqGI40Wb pic.twitter.com/lNuukhQr9S
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) November 2, 2018
Trump’s comments weren’t limited to his electoral campaign. Cohen also claimed that Trump made insensitive comments about former South Africa President Nelson Mandela shortly after his death, making comments about African leaders in general similar to what others have suggested Trump has said while serving in the White House.
“[Trump] said to me, ‘Name one country run by a black person that’s not a s***hole,’ and then he added, ‘Name one city,'” Cohen said.
Cohen also stated to the magazine that Trump made bigoted comments about contestants on his reality series, The Apprentice. In discussing why he didn’t want Kwame Jackson, an African American contestant on the first season who made it to the finale, to win, Cohen said that Trump expressed racist and anti-gay sentiments while describing him.
“He said, ‘There’s no way I can let this black f** win,'” Cohen told Vanity Fair.
Cohen also expressed remorse for not speaking out or leaving the Trump Organization when he heard these words coming from Trump. “I should have left,” he said, recognizing that he learned to ignore and accept Trump’s behavior in his time while working for him.
