President Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen has accused Trump of claiming blacks were “too stupid” to vote for him, in addition to using other racist language.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Cohen stated that Trump made multiple derogatory comments about blacks.
Cohen said that after watching a rally as part of the 2016 campaign, he told Trump that the crowd was predominately white. “I told Trump that the rally looked vanilla on television. Trump responded, ‘That’s because black people are too stupid to vote for me,’” Cohen said, according to Vanity Fair.
Similar language had been used before by Trump, Cohen said, and pointed to a conversation that occurred after former South African President Nelson Mandela passed away in 2013. “[Trump] said to me, ‘Name one country run by a black person that’s not a shithole,’ and then he added, ‘Name one city,’” Cohen recalled Trump saying.
Cohen accused Trump of saying, during a trip to Chicago for a Trump International Hotel board meeting, that blacks were the only ones who could live in the conditions of “rougher neighborhoods.” Cohen said: “We were going from the airport to the hotel, and we drove through what looked like a rougher neighborhood. Trump made a comment to me, saying that only the blacks could live like this.”
Vanity Fair reports that Cohen came forth with the allegations to expose Trump’s behavior just days before the 2018 midterm elections, since Trump makes more controversial comments in private rather than in public.
Although Cohen once said he would take a “bullet” for Trump, their relationship has tarnished in recent months. Last month, Cohen tweeted on Sunday that the 2018 midterm elections “might be the most important vote in our lifetime” and modified his party affiliation so that he is no longer a registered Republican, but rather a registered Democrat.
His lawyer, Lanny Davis, said the move was a way of “distancing himself from the values of the current admin.”
In August, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts, including one count of willful cause of unlawful corporate contribution, and one count of excessive campaign contribution made on Oct. 27, 2016. The payments were made by Cohen per the direction of the “candidate” to women who alleged they had had affairs with Trump, in exchange for their silence.
Trump has denied the affairs with both women. Cohen’s sentencing date is scheduled for Dec. 12. The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment by Vanity Fair, according to Vanity Fair.
