Of all the books written about Donald Trump, few have had the inside access of Michael Cohen’s. Unlike Trump’s niece Mary Trump, who had a distant relationship with the president, Cohen was one of Trump’s closest allies for years. Today, for the first time, we are getting a glimpse into what the former attorney/fixer writes in his book Disloyal: A Memoir. Here’s an excerpt from the foreword to the book:
There are reasons why there has never been an intimate portrait of Donald Trump, the man. In part, it’s because he has a million acquaintances, pals and hangers on, but no real friends. He has no one he trusts to keep his secrets. For ten years, he certainly had me, and I was always there for him, and look what happened to me. I urge you to really consider that fact: Trump has no true friends. He has lived his entire life avoiding and evading taking responsibility for his actions. He crushed or cheated all who stood in his way, but I know where the skeletons are buried because I was the one who buried them. I was the one who most encouraged him to run for president in 2011, and then again in 2015, carefully orchestrating the famous trip down the escalator in Trump Tower for him to announce his candidacy. When Trump wanted to reach Russian President Vladimir Putin, via a secret back channel, I was tasked with making the connection in my Keystone Kop fashion. I stiffed contractors on his behalf, ripped off his business partners, lied to his wife Melania to hide his sexual infidelities, and bullied and screamed at anyone who threatened Trump’s path to power. 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.
Last month the ACLU filed a lawsuit on Cohen’s behalf against Attorney General William Barr and two prison officials. They argued, “the federal government’s incarceration of Michael Cohen is in retaliation for his plans to publish a book critical of the president prior to the November election violates the First Amendment.” A judge agreed and released Cohen to serve the remainder of his three-year criminal sentence in home confinement. Cohen was serving time for charges related to bank and campaign finance violations on payments he made on behalf of Trump. What remains to be seen are what records he kept related to the allegations he makes in his book and whether he can produce any proof to back up his claims.
Cohen hasn’t shared the release date for the book but has said it will come out before the election.