Michael Cohen as Fall Guy

Michael Cohen was at one time worth ninety million dollars on paper, primarily by being able to pick up taxi medallions at depressed prices. He and  his father-in-law controlled some 300 of them. Thus, when President Trump requested the father-in-law be investigated as to how he got his money, Trump was likely engaging in witness tampering, as the father-in-law may have become a witness in any trial of his son-in-law.#

Cohen was the go-between connecting Trump and David Pecker, who from his position in American Media Inc. (A.M.I.), controlled what got published in "The National Enquirer." When Cohen got word that Karen McDougal was preparing to publish an account of her affair with Donald Trump, Cohen urged Pecker to buy the account and then bury it -- a practice, in the argot of tabloids, known as "catch and kill." Cohen and Pecker said that Trump would be liable for a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars of A.M.I.'s payment to McDougal; however, Trump never paid anything to A.M.I. In any event, "The National Enquirer" never disclosed Trump's relationship with McDougal. The checks made out to McDougal were either signed by Louis Weisselberg, Trump's long-time financial specialist, Donald Trump Jr., or President Trump himself. [1]

The Mueller probe located a call made by President Trump to Michael Cohen, telling him to "hang in there" and "stay strong." Cohen told Jeffrey Toobin about his dealings with Costello and Giuliani, two of Trump's lawyers. "It meant that I was still in the circle, that I was being protected. I should stay on message, part of the team, and we're going to get through this, together as a group." Toobin concludes that: "The possible dangling of a Presidential pardon if Cohen stayed on the team was at the heart of Mueller's evidence." "Mueller wrote that 'it is important to view the president's pattern of conduct as a whole.That pattern sheds light on the nature of the President's acts and the inference that can be drawn about his intent. Our investigation found multiple acts by the President that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations.' "

Toobin concludes that Trump's company and his campaign had paid approximately $1.5 million in Cohen's attorney's fees before the payments were ended.

Jeffrey Toobin's conclusion about Michael Cohen is that: "He embraced Trump so uncritically that he wound up committing crimes on his behalf." He adds that Trump has thus far "escaped the wreckage he leaves behind."

#In an interview with Fox News, Trump said that Cohen "should give information maybe on his father-in-law, because that's the one that people want to look at because where does that money -- that's the money in the family."