The lawyer for Donald Trump who created a firestorm after erroneously claiming that there is no legal cause of action for marital rape reportedly voted for presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008.
Trump advisor and counsel Michael Cohen, who may need to take some continuing legal education courses, made the claim that a person cannot rape a spouse while aggressively trying to quash a Daily Beast story that the real estate mogul’s ex-wife Ivana asserted in their early 1990s divorce proceeding that she was raped by The Donald, but not in the “criminal” sense. The allegation originally surfaced in a 1993 book.
Currently the GOP front-runner for the 2016 presidential nomination heading into Thursday night’s first debate, Donald Trump strongly denied the allegation about marital rape rehashed by The Daily Beast , and Ivana Trump quickly put out a statement that “the story is totally without merit” and even endorsed her former husband’s candidacy for the White House.
As the backlash grew over the marital rape comment, Trump — who did not tell Michael Cohen “you’re fired” — nonetheless disavowed Cohen’s legal opinion, which he said was made in anger during the exchange with The Daily Beast reporter, and chided The Daily Beast for publishing a bogus story out of a desparate attempt for relevancy in the media marketplace.
With the controversy about the spousal rape remarks showing no sign of abating, Cohen issued an apology .
“As an attorney, husband and father there are many injustices that offend me but nothing more than charges of rape or racism. They hit me at my core. Rarely am I surprised by the press, but the gall of this particular reporter to make such a reprehensible and false allegation against Mr. Trump truly stunned me. In my moment of shock and anger, I made an inarticulate comment – which I do not believe — and which I apologize for entirely.”
Referring to Michael Cohen as Trump’s loyal “pit bull,” a 2011 report by ABC News revealed that Cohen is, or was, a registered Democrat who voted for Obama the first time around before he became disillusioned with the president’s performance in office.
“The man behind Donald Trump’s possible 2012 presidential campaign is a registered Democrat who voted for Barack Obama in 2008. Not only that, but Michael Cohen, an executive at the Trump Organization who doubles as Trump’s chief political adviser, once volunteered for 1988 presidential candidate Michael Dukakis and worked for a Democratic member of Congress … A lawyer by training, Cohen is Trump’s special counsel and a juggler of people and projects. One minute he’s on the phone with a reporter, the next he’s giving orders to an assistant, and a moment later he’s finalizing a deal on another line — and frequently, he’s doing all three at once.”
Although Trump is now seeking the presidency as a Republican, he has, in the past, himself been a registered Democrat and praised many Democrats (including Obama and the Clintons) and advocated for some of their policies and given money to their party, as well as donating to the Clinton Foundation. In prior election cycles, he has flirted with mounting a third-party presidential campaign as well as considering a 2012 run as the GOP standard-bearer.
Under the circumstances (i.e., the now-disavowed marital rape comment), do you think that Michael Cohen will continue to play a high-profile role in the Donald Trump for president campaign?
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