Michael Cohen, the former lawyer for U.S. President Donald Trump, arrives back at home after being released from prison during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City, New York, U.S., May 21, 2020.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Michael Cohen, the former personal lawyer and fixer for President Donald Trump, slammed his former boss as a liar while appearing in a pro-Democrat group’s attack ad that is set to air during this week’s Republican National Convention.
“For more than a decade, I was President Trump’s right-hand man, fixer and confidant. I was complicit in helping conceal the real Donald Trump. I was part of creating an illusion,” Cohen said in a 99-second video that the group, American Bridge 21st Century, posted on social media just a few hours before the first night of the RNC was set to kick off.
“Later this week, he’s going to stand up and blatantly lie to you,” Cohen said. “I’m here to tell you he can’t be trusted and you shouldn’t believe a word he utters.”
Cohen is set to appear in multiple ads for the progressive super PAC, which is focusing on key swing states as it works to help elect Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
The ads will air digitally starting Monday night and will appear on television starting Wednesday – in time for the final two nights of the GOP convention.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the new ad. But in a statement to CNN, which first reported on the video, Trump campaign spokesman Matt Wolking said, “If you believe anything Michael Cohen says, I have a basement in Delaware to sell you.”
Cohen, 53, had spent years as one of Trump’s closest, and most loyal, subordinates. But after the FBI raided Cohen’s office and residence in April 2018, the relationship between the president and his fixer began to fray.
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to multiple crimes, some of which related to Trump. Before he entered prison in 2019, Cohen testified before Congress that Trump was a “racist” and a “con man.”
Cohen was released from prison to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under home confinement.
In the ad for American Bridge, Cohen delivers a warning directly to viewers of the Republican National Convention.
“When the president gets in front of the cameras this week, remember that he thinks we’re all gullible, a bunch of fools. I was a part of it, and I fell for it,” Cohen said.
“You don’t have to like me, but please, listen to me,” he said.
“When you watch the president this week, remember this: If he says something is huge, it’s probably small. If he says something will work, it probably won’t. And if he says he cares about you and your family, he certainly does not,” Cohen said.
“He’s going to tell you that if you reelect him, the economy will bounce back, that only he can get us out of this economic crisis. Maybe for those like him,” Cohen added. “But if you think he cares about working-class Americans, you’re dead wrong.”
“The president is going to talk to you about law order. That’s laughable,” Cohen said. “Virtually everyone who worked for his campaign has been convicted of a crime or is under indictment – myself included.”
American Bridge is not the only anti-Trump group trying to undercut the GOP’s messaging during the week of the convention. The Lincoln Project, which has produced a series of stinging attack ads is set to launch a $4 million ad blitz this week, targeting voters in a series of key swing states.
