According to disgraced former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, he would have been among those receiving a late-term pardon from President Donald Trump had he chosen not to “speak truth to power” against his old boss.
During an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Beat,” Cohen criticized Trump for his view of presidential pardon powers.
“I think it’s like make it rain, right?” Cohen said. “That’s all he’s doing. He’s taking political favors and money, right — by people, for the sole purpose of giving them pardons. I mean, the man has completely usurped the fact that there is a pardon-off — that there are people who should be receiving pardons. Do I think any of these people should be receiving pardons? Absolutely not. I think that Trump has just taken over the entire country. He wants to run it the same way that he ran the Trump organization — as if he owns the company, as if he owns the United States of America.”
“I mean, there are people who worked in that pardon office all year long putting together documents, speaking to prosecutors, making sure that the person who receives the pardon is actually entitled to a pardon,” he continued. “Otherwise, basically what you’re doing is you’re giving the president the ability, you know, like his old Trump monopoly game, a ‘get out of free jail’ card simply because you’re a friend. And you’re right — I would have received one had I agreed not to come out, not to speak truth to power.”
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