Politics

REPORT: Cohen Pitched A Book Idea Last Year Before Testimony Claiming Trump Is Not A Liar

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President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen pitched a book idea to several publishers in 2018 claiming that the president is not a liar or a cheat, The Daily Mail reported Friday. The report comes after Cohen testified in Congress that the president is all of those things.

His comments refuting accusations of Trump’s dishonesty came in a book proposal that the jail-bound attorney pitched in the days and weeks before the FBI raided his office. The working title of the book was “Trump Revolution: From The Tower to The White House, Understanding Donald J. Trump,” and it contained mostly glowing praise for Cohen’s former boss, the report noted.

Cohen sent his idea to several publishers, with one, Hachette, reportedly offering to pay him $750,000 for the rights to the books. But the former attorney had other ideas, the report notes, adding that Cohen decided to hold out for a higher pay-day. Several publishers told The Daily Mail reporters that he planned to praise the president.

“Everything he wanted to say about Trump was positive,” one publisher allegedly told reporters. “Even in our meeting he was glowing with praise for the president.” The deal with Hachette eventually crumbled after Cohen was charged with tax evasion and lying to Congress. Cohen, who will begin a three-year prison sentence in May, claimed in congressional testimony Thursday that Trump is “a racist … a conman … a cheat.”

The beleaguered former attorney’s initial proposal dismissed many of the barbs that are frequently lobbed at Trump. “All of these things have been said about my longtime boss, Donald J. Trump,” Cohen said, referring to claims that the president is a liar and paranoid. “None of it is true. Trump does believe that reporters are out to get him, and for a very good reason. Many of them are.”

Trump responded to the report in typical Trump fashion. “Congress must demand the transcript of Michael Cohen’s new book, given to publishers a short time ago,” he tweeted Friday after the report was published. “Your heads will spin when you see the lies, misrepresentations and contradictions against his Thursday testimony. Like a different person! He is totally discredited!”

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