Michael Cohen said Wednesday he turned over cell phones and other records to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Office, which is investigating hush-money payments meant to keep Stormy Daniels from going public about an alleged affair with former President Donald Trump ahead of the 2016 election.
"Most recently, they asked for my cell phones because they want to be able to extract from it the voice recordings that I had had with Keith Davidson, former attorney to Stormy Daniels before Michael Avenatti, as well as a bunch of emails, text messages and so on, that way it could be used as evidence if in fact they proceed forward, which I suspect they are," Cohen revealed in an in-studio interview Wednesday with Don Lemon on" CNN’s This Morning."
Bragg began presenting evidence to a grand jury Monday regarding former President Donald Trump's role in providing hush payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 election. The investigation is one of several into Trump that may result in criminal charges, and his decision to impanel a grand jury indicates he will soon decide whether to charge the former president.
Bragg began calling witnesses before the jury Monday, including former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, who allegedly played a role in facilitating the payments to Daniels.
"I’ve said all along that I believe the DA’s case is by far the simplest to prove, and it is the most destructive to Donald Trump individually and to his business as well. I do believe he will see repercussions for the first time in almost his entire life," Cohen said Wednesday. "I think we’re going to see a lot of repercussions."
"Donald cannot keep track of the lies that he tells, and so, what better way to stop a fool from being deposed and hurting himself further than to tell him to plead the Fifth at least 400 times," Cohen added.
The remark reference recently released video showing Trump pleading the Fifth over and over again in August 2022 before New York Attorney General Letitia James during a civil deposition in New York City. It happened just days after the FBI raided Trump's residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
James wants Trump, three of his children and their family’ run business drive from the Empire State and fined at least $250 million. That civil case is set to go to trial in October.
In the video, Trump called James’ probe a "politically motivated witch hunt," saying the investigation relied on testimony from Cohen, who Trump deemed a "convicted felon and liar."
"Remember, the attorney general’s case is civil in nature and people make the constant mistake of $250 million – that’s the base that they’re talking about. That’s not the max," Cohen said Wednesday. "I think it’ll be more in the neighborhood of $700 million based upon at least the information that I know. In terms of fine."
Fox News reached out to Cohen and Trump’s legal teams for comment Wednesday.
In the CNN interview, Cohen also referenced two more unrelated cases connected to Trump.
Last month, former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg was sentenced to five months in prison after pleading guilty to dodging taxes on $1.7 million in job perks.
In December, the Trump Organization was ordered to pay $1.6 million in fines after being found guilty of a slew of tax related fraud felonies.
James' lawsuit alleges that Trump, with the help of children Donald Trump, Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump and other senior executives at the Trump Organization, falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to induce banks to lend money to the Trump Organization on more favorable terms than would otherwise have been available to the company, to satisfy continuing loan covenants, to induce insurers to provide insurance coverage for higher limits and at lower premiums and to gain tax benefits, among other things.
In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to charges of tax evasion, making false statements to a federally insured bank, and campaign finance violations.
The plea was entered followed the filing of an eight-count criminal information, which alleged that Cohen concealed more than $4 million in personal income from the IRS, made false statements to a federally-insured financial institution in connection with a $500,000 home equity loan, and, in 2016, "caused $280,000 in payments to be made to silence two women who otherwise planned to speak publicly about their alleged affairs with a presidential candidate, thereby intending to influence the 2016 presidential election," the Justice Department said.
