Donald Trump tries to throw Michael Cohen under the bus, misses, throws himself under the bus instead
Donald Trump’s appearance on Fox & Friends this morning was so surreal, even by Trumpian standards, it felt like an unrealistic scene out of a movie. Trump admitted he spent the night in Moscow during the Pee Pee Tape timeframe. He admitted Michael Cohen isn’t really his attorney. But by the time he began ranting about Abraham Lincoln, even the Fox hosts felt they had to end the interview early. But the damage was already done: Trump had tried to throw Cohen under the bus, and thrown himself instead.
Whenever Donald Trump’s associates get nailed for their roles in Trump’s scandals, Trump ends up distancing himself from them as soon as he thinks they’re a lost cause. He did it to George Papadopoulos. He did it to Michael Flynn, a guy he liked. He did it to Paul Manafort, a guy he’d been working with for decades. We predicted he would throw Michael Cohen under the bus as well, and sure enough, that happened this morning. We just didn’t expect Trump to blow it so badly.
Trump’s usual tactic is to claim that the person in question only played a small role for him. Manafort was his campaign chairman and campaign manager, yet after Manafort was arrested, Trump tried to claim that Manafort barely worked for the campaign. Sure enough, Trump claimed this morning that Michael Cohen was barely his attorney, only truly representing him in the Stormy Daniels matter and little else. The trouble: in so doing, Trump sacrificed his claim of attorney-client privilege with Cohen.
Sure enough, federal prosecutors immediately changed tactics in court as a result of Donald Trump’s on-air blunder, and now they’re going to get their way when it comes to the communications seized from Michael Cohen. Trump’s entire strategy was centered around blocking those communications. Trump just blew that and threw himself under the bus. In addition, Michael Cohen is now well aware that Trump is trying to throw him under the bus, sharply increasing the odds of Cohen flipping.
