Michael Cohen, who is supposed to be a star witness against former President Donald Trump in his New York hush money trial, has been getting donations through Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok as he rants about Trump to his 290,000 followers.
Cohen's TikTok livestreams last for hours and attract thousands of viewers, some of whom give him TikTok "gifts," which have financial value.
On Tuesday night, Cohen reportedly said during a live stream, "“Trump 2024? … More like Trump 20-24 years."
Last Wednesday, Cohen said he would not make any more public remarks about Trump until after he testifies at the trial, but that night he mentioned him again during a conversation with Rosie O'Donnell on that night's livestream.
“I’m washing my hands of him until I end up seeing him face-to-face and I am a witness on the stand to provide truthful testimony,” Cohen said
Trump's attorneys already plan to argue that Cohen is benefitting financially from his antagonism toward Trump.
Besides social media, his books about Trump, including one named "Revenge," may receive a boost in sales because his testimony will bring his connection to Trump back into the spotlight.
ABC News noted that Cohen's live stream viewer count "dropped to triple digits" when he said he would stop discussing Trump. “By the weekend, he was back discussing the trial,” the outlet reported.
Cohen was the one who actually made the payments to Stormy Daniels and other Trump accusers.
He now says Trump put him up to it and paid him back in installments, while Trump says he never made any hush money payments to his accusers and was paying Cohen for legitimate legal services.
Here's the thing, though: Cohen's credibility is damaged because he admitted during Trump's civil trial before Judge Arthur Engoron that he lied on the witness stand during his trial when he admitted to perjuring himself in his guilty plea for tax evasion.
How are jurors supposed to trust a man who admits he lied under oath previously? How can they believe he's telling the truth now? Trump's lawyers will vigorously argue that they can't.
Bottom line is, jurors are going to believe what they want to believe or what someone convinces them to believe about Trump and his guilt in the case.
Cohen is a sad little Trump-hater now, and his tactics will hopefully be seen for what they are--an attempt to capitalize on other Trump-haters' narratives for his own benefit.
