During a recent interview, former President Donald Trump’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen suggested that Trump will need to begin liquidating his assets in response to his fraud trial verdict. Cohen’s remarks came after Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay $354 million in damages for the Trump Organization’s involvement in widespread fraud. Additionally, Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, were also fined.
Speaking with MSNBC host Ali Velshi, Cohen speculated on Trump’s financial predicament, particularly in light of the substantial damages he owes from the fraud trial and a separate defamation trial where he owes E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million.
Velshi questioned whether such significant financial penalties would influence Trump’s behavior. Cohen responded by emphasizing the enormity of the judgments against Trump, totaling over $500 million. Cohen doubted Trump’s ability to cover these costs, suggesting that Trump likely doesn’t have access to such large sums of money in his bank accounts. He speculated that Trump might attempt to include funds from sources like the Republican National Committee (RNC), political action committees (PACs), or various real estate holdings, even though those funds aren’t directly his.
Cohen highlighted Trump’s unconventional perspective on money, where he believes any funds associated with his name are accessible to him, regardless of ownership. However, Cohen asserted that these assets would need to be liquidated to meet the financial obligations resulting from the judgments against Trump.
VELSHI: What changes Donald Trump’s behavior? Does $500 million change Donald Trump’s behavior? Because, according to Truth Social, nothing changes his behavior. He just keeps on posting the same stuff about how it’s all corrupt.
COHEN: What else is he supposed to do at this point? There is a now a judgment against him for over $500 million, not including the $88.6 million he’s going to owe to E. Jean Carroll. It’s an enormous amount of money that he does not have. I don’t care what anybody wants to write in any newspaper, regardless of what their credentials may be, unless he’s going to show you that his bank account has more than a half a million, he doesn’t have 400 million of cash on hand. Maybe what he’s doing is he’s including RNC money, or he’s including the PAC money, or he’s including the various different condominium money that’s sitting in Cat X accounts, that they do not belong to him. Right? Those don’t belong to him either. He has a very interesting way of looking at money, and the way he looks at is if his name is somehow attached to that, it’s available. It’s available to him. It is not right and he doesn’t have it. They’re going to have to start liquidating assets.
