Michael Cohen says Donald Trump’s downfall will resemble Al Capone’s
- Michael Cohen said he thinks Donald Trump will get indicted on tax charges
- Al Capone, a notorious gangster, was indicted in 1931 on tax evasion charges
Michael Cohen predicted that former US president Donald Trump will, like the mobster Al Capone, get taken down by tax fraud charges.
Speaking on MSNBC’s Deadline White House, Cohen – who was Trump’s lawyer and personal fixer – weighed in on a sprawling probe into the Trump Organisation sparked by New York Attorney General Leticia James.
“Like the Al Capone effect, you’re not going to get him on murder, extortion, racketeering. You get them on tax evasion,” Cohen said.
“And much of this, especially the easier, the low-hanging fruit, so to speak – that was available a long time ago,” he added, referring to potential evidence of fraudulent acts committed by the former president’s business.
Capone, a notorious Chicago gang boss, was not indicted for violent crimes but instead convicted in 1931 on tax-evasion charges.
During his MSNBC appearance, Cohen commented on Trump’s legal troubles and predicted that the former president would use a “playbook” – which Cohen helped create – in response to them.
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“I believe that there’ll be a criminal prosecution by the IRS. I believe there’ll be potentially a criminal prosecution by SDNY, especially now that it’s not Trump controlled,” Cohen said, referring to the courts in the Southern District of New York.
“And I also believe that there will be other criminal investigations that will be forthcoming, but remember what Donald does, and again, this is all part of the playbook that I am responsible for helping to create,” he added. “This playbook is delay, delay, delay.”
Cohen added that he thought the Trump Organisation probe looked like an “open and shut case” of fraud, classifying Trump’s denials as the “nonsensical rantings of a lunatic mind”.
A representative at Trump’s post-presidential press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last week, Cohen was given a shoutout by James when she announced her office’s US$250 million civil lawsuit against Trump, his business, and his adult children.
James has accused the former president of falsely inflating his net worth by billions of dollars. She also seeks to bar the Trumps from conducting business in New York.
During his deposition in New York last month, Trump pleaded the Fifth more than 440 times – only answering a question about his name.
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In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to felonies, including tax evasion, campaign finance violations, and bank fraud. He was sentenced in December that year to three years in prison and was disbarred in February 2019 by the New York Supreme Court.
Since his release, Cohen has become an outspoken Trump critic. He has weighed in on the former president’s many legal troubles, including the FBI’s raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
This week, Cohen announced that he would be selling T-shirts that depicted Trump behind bars to “celebrate the fall of the mango Mussolini”.
