Michael Cohen , the former personal lawyer of PresidentDonald Trump , has released the foreword of his coming memoir, "Disloyal."- In the blurb, he argued that his old boss would not leave office peacefully should he lose November's presidential election.
- "As the months passed by and I thought about the man I knew so well, I became even more convinced that Trump will never leave office peacefully," he wrote.
- Trump has refused to confirm he will accept November's election result win or lose, and critics say he is attempting to affect the election's outcome by sowing doubts about its integrity.
- A judge ordered Cohen's release into home confinement in July, saying he believed the government was retaliating against Cohen for writing a book about Trump by imprisoning him again after his May release.
- The White House attacked Cohen after the foreword was released, accusing him of lying in order to make money and harm Trump.
Michael Cohen, the former personal lawyer and fixer of President Donald Trump, has argued in a foreword to his new book that Trump will never leave office peacefully because he knows he'll prison time when he is no longer president.
Cohen released the foreword of his coming memoir, "Disloyal," on Thursday. In it he paints a devastating portrait of his old boss.
After the foreword was released, the White House issued a statement to Business Insider describing it as "fan fiction" and accusing Cohen of lying in order to harm Trump.
In the foreword, Cohen wrote: "Apart from his wife and children, I knew Trump better than anyone else did."
"In some ways, I knew him better than even his family did because I bore witness to the real man, in strip clubs, shady business meetings, and in the unguarded moments when he revealed who he really was: a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, a con man."
Cohen wrote the book while in prison in upstate New York, where he was serving a sentence after admitting to financial crimes and lying to Congress.
In July, a judge ordered Cohen's release from prison and suggested the government had sought to punish Cohen for the book when it sent him back to prison following his earlier release in May.
In the foreword, Cohen discussed the prospect of Trump losing November's presidential election, with the president trailing the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, in polls.
"As the months passed by and I thought about the man I knew so well, I became even more convinced that Trump will never leave office peacefully," Cohen wrote.
"The types of scandals that have surfaced in recent months will only continue to emerge with greater and greater levels of treachery and deceit. If Trump wins another four years, these scandals will prove to only be the tip of the iceberg."
"I'm certain that Trump knows he will face prison time if he leaves office, the inevitable cold Karma to the notorious chants of 'Lock Her Up!'" he added, referring to the popular campaign chant at 2016 Trump rallies attacking Hillary Clinton.
The president and his Republican allies accused Cohen of being a liar seeking to drum up a book deal when he testified before Congress last year.
There, Cohen accused Trump of electoral crimes and seeking to broker a Moscow real-estate deal in 2016 and then lying about having had no involvement with Russia ahead of the election.
In the foreword, Cohen did not spell out the crimes for which he says Trump fears imprisonment, but wrote: "From golden showers in a sex club in Vegas, to tax fraud, to deals with corrupt officials from the former Soviet Union, to catch and kill conspiracies to silence Trump's clandestine lovers, I wasn't just a witness to the president's rise — I was an active and eager participant."
The White House responded to Business Insider's request for comment on the claims by attacking Cohen and dismissing the entire work as "fan fiction."
A statement from spokesman Brian Morgenstern said: "Michael Cohen's book is fan fiction. He readily admits to lying routinely but expects people to believe him now so that he can make money from book sales.
"It's unfortunate that the media is exploiting this sad and desperate man to attack President Trump."
There have long been concerns that Trump might refuse to leave office if he loses, fueled in part by president's own remarks.
In a July interview with Fox News' Chris Wallace, Trump refused to confirm that he would accept the result of the election, win or lose.
"I have to see. Look, you — I have to see. No, I'm not going to just say yes. I'm not going to say no, and I didn't last time either," the president said.
In a claim repeatedly rebutted by election officials and election experts, Trump has also said an expected surge in mail-in ballots in this year's election, prompted by the coronavirus pandemic, will result in widespread electoral fraud.
He has also threatened to refuse to grant the US Postal Service extra money to process the expected increase in electoral ballots cast by mail.
Democrats have accused the president of seeking to delegitimize thousands of votes and sow doubt in the election.
Biden told "The Daily Show" in June and a conference of donors in July that his biggest fear leading up to November was that Trump would try to "steal" the election.
Cohen's foreword appeared to mirror those fears, contending that Trump's central motivation in life is to win, whatever the cost.
"I was so vulnerable to his magnetic force because he offered an intoxicating cocktail of power, strength, celebrity, and a complete disregard for the rules and realities that govern our lives," Cohen wrote.
"To Trump, life was a game and all that mattered was winning."